Hertfordshire Developers Group

By Michael Hardware, Director of Planning and Property

Chelgate Local is working with partners to help create a developers group for Hertfordshire. Discussions are ongoing with the Hertfordshire Growth Board and founding members about creating the group, its structure, governance and programme.

Developers groups have emerged in a number of counties recently to provide useful forums for the industry and councils. They enable smoother development and plan making processes, working in partnership with local enterprise partnerships, county and district councils, as well as Homes England and the Environment Agency. These groups are ideal places for developers and their consultants to engage not only with officers but also the politicians that make the decisions. Conversely, it is somewhere for councils to float policy ideas, discuss and receive feedback, and to provide information to the industry.

The Essex Developers Group (EDG) has been operating for four years whereas the Kent Developers Group has been around for over a decade. As well as the district, borough and city councils, EDG works closely with Essex County Council, the South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP), the Essex Planning Officers Association and Essex Housing Officers Group. See my article in PlacemakingResource in September 2020 entitled: Can developer groups help enable better delivery?

The developer groups will be particularly useful during the roll-out of the planning reforms, and especially so when the local government reforms come forward (see our article on local government reforms[link]) later this year.

If you are interested in joining the Hertfordshire Developers Group or just wish to monitor its progress, please register here.