Regeneration of John Barker Place

We’re planning an exciting redevelopment of John Barker Place on the Westmill estate in Hitchin.

It will include new homes, shops and a new play area. The first 2 phases will include new homes for residents in Freemans Close and the nearby Westmill Lawns retirement complex, enabling them to continue living safely and comfortably in the area they’re familiar with.

Take a look at an artists impression:

Progress so far

We have submitted two planning applications for this redevelopment – one for the new homes and shops on John Barker and a separate planning application for a new children's play area on the edge of Swinburne playing fields.

The application for the children’s play area was reviewed first, at the NHDC Planning Control Committee meeting on 14 November and deferred for further consideration. We expect this planning application to be heard again in public, along with the application for the shops and homes. Members of the public will be able to attend and provide feedback on both. We will update this page when we know the date.

Public review of planning applications – 23 January 2020

Both planning applications are due to be reviewed in public at the planning committee meeting on Thursday 23 January at 7.30pm. The meeting will be held at NHDC’s offices at Gernon Road, Letchworth. Members of the public will be able to attend and provide feedback on both. More details about the planning committee meeting are available on the NHDC website.

Questions and answers

In this document we’ve included answers covering the themes of the questions we have recently been asked about the development and contact details for settle if you'd like to find out more information.

John Barker Place Q&A [PDF] 79KB