John Barker Place
John Barker Place
We’re pleased to confirm that the new homes at Kingfisher House, the first building of the redevelopment at John Barker Place in the Westmill neighbourhood, Hitchin, is now complete.
With support from North Herts Council and Homes England, settle began work in partnership with Jarvis Construction on the first phase of the two-phase redevelopment in January 2021.
The five-storey housing block is now home to 37 residents from the nearby retirement living flats at Westmill Lawns. The building also includes the local convenience shop and a takeaway unit on the ground floor.
In January 2021, we put together a short film to mark the start of work on the development. Bim Afolami, MP for Hitchin and Harpenden; Martin Stears-Handscomb, Former Leader of North Hertfordshire District Council, and local resident, Jude talk about the benefits the development will bring to the Westmill community.
- Phase 1 – Kingfisher House.
- Phase 2A & 2B – the new building that is being developed, replacing the current row of shops and flats on John Barker Place will have two entrances. The building on the left side will be called Oughton Court and the block with the entrance on the right is to be named Cornmill House.
- Phase 2C – the new building that will sit behind Phase 2A will also have two entrances, the building on the left will be named Reed House and properties on the right – Willow Court. The road between Kingfisher House and Oughton Court and behind Reed House and Willow Court will be named Kingfisher View.See plan below for more details.
Phase 3 – New homes on site of Freemans Close
Outline planning permission was granted in 2020 for a third phase of development at John Barker Place to provide 49 new affordable homes on the site of Freemans Close. We recently held a final design exhibition (June 2022) giving residents an opportunity to share their views before a reserved matters application is made to North Herts Council.
Subject to approval, work will begin on site in 2023, once Phase 2 is complete. The proposed properties will provide a mixture of social rent and shared ownership homes which we expect to be completed in 2025.
John Barker Place and Westmill Road
We also consulted on proposed plans for the development of properties 2 to 136 John Barker Place (opposite the new development) and 53 to 75 Westmill Road (odd numbers only). Proposed plans also include the redevelopment of the site of the Westmill Lawns retirement living scheme. This is the third consultation we have had on proposed plans for the new development.
You can take a look at the images and detail of the proposed plans (PDF) here.
Some of the key changes that we have made to the designs in line with resident feedback includes the positioning of open space and adjustment to some of the heights of the buildings.
If you have any questions or would like to make suggestions regarding the redevelopment, please send us an email and a member of our team will respond or call us on 0330 343 0016.
Previous proposed plans
If you would like to look back at how plans have evolved, you can view previous proposed plans that we consulted with residents on here.
We received planning permission for the new homes and shops at John Barker Place in January 2020, with the commitment that we would provide the new plea area on the edge of Swinburne playing fields before starting building work.
We were delighted to open the new playground in summer 2020.
We carry out weekly, monthly and annual safety
and maintenance inspections on the playground to check play equipment.
Repairs
The fingerboard has been replaced and we plan to repair the rubber mulch in areas across the playground where it has been damaged in the coming weeks.
We will also be fitting the zip wire with a new spring and stopping mechanism to reduce the impact.
Unfortunately, the carousal swing has been damaged beyond repair and we plan to replace this equipment with something similar and will keep you updated on this. If you spot something wrong with any of the park equipment, please let
us know by emailing johnbarkerplace@settlegroup.org.uk.
(Updated 22, December, 2022)
June 2023: Update on regeneration letter
March 2023: John Barker Place redevelopment update – March 2023
March 2023: Jarvis Contracting – Contractor on John Barker Place in administration
December 2022: Newsletter 7 – John Barker Place Redevelopment newsletter_Issue7_
July 2022: Newsletter 6 – John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 6
February 2022: Newsletter 5 – John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 5 (PDF)
September 2021: Newsletter 4 – John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 4 (PDF)
July 2021: Newsletter 3 – John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 3 (PDF)
March 2021: Newsletter 2 – John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 2 (PDF)
January 2021: Construction work begins on £20m John Barker Place redevelopment
December 2020: Newsletter 1 – Work to begin on John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 1 (PDF)
July 2020: New children’s play area opened at Swinburne playing fields in Hitchin
May 2020 Play area work to begin on Swinburne playing fields
February 2020 20m redevelopment of Hitchins John Barker Place to go ahead
November 2019 Planning application for play area to be reviewed
October 2019 Update following public meeting on 21 October
October 2019 Invitation to public meeting on Monday 21 October
August 2019 Children’s play area proposed for Swinburne playing fields
August 2019 Have your say on the John Barker Place redevelopment
June 2019 Redevelopment of Hitchin’s Westmill estate moves step forward
April 2019 Our redevelopment plans for John Barker Place, Hitchin
April 2019 Redevelopment of John Barker Place, Hitchin
Questions and answers
Stay in touch
A team of colleagues from settle will be focussed on the delivery of this project, working alongside our partners at Jarvis Contracting Ltd. We will work closely with residents and the wider Westmill community as the delivery of the new homes and facilities progress.
The team from settle includes:
- Shenaz Virji, head of development delivery
- Tim Porter, head of regeneration
- Anne Bircham, regeneration officer
The team from Jarvis Contracting includes:
- Nathan Herbert, Production Manager
- Chris Creighton, Project Manager
We will provide regular updates as the development work at John Barker Place continues. If you’d like to get involved and share your feedback, we’d love to hear from you.
- We will provide regular updates on these web pages
- You can contact Anne or Tim through the dedicated email address we have set up for this project. Please send any questions or feedback to Anne or Tim at johnbarkerplace@settlegroup.org.uk
- You can also call us on 0330 343 0016 if you want to talk through anything – ask for Tim or Anne
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