Welcome to the website for the Hunsdon, Eastwick and Gilston Neighbourhood Plan Group (NPG).
You can receive updates from the Group direct to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter below:
You can also Like our Facebook Page to get updates from us on your feed, and get in touch with us via our Contact page.
Our Gilston Area Neighbourhood Plan aims to ensure – through the formal planning process – that the Gilston Area development fulfils the promises the developers have made about creating homes of exceptional quality in sustainable communities.
It received a massive endorsement from local residents on with a powerful 98% of the vote, in a very high turnout at the referendum on it.
It also won the awards for Plan-Making and cross-category Editor’s prize at the Planning Awards 2021 and the Excellence in Landscape Planning and Assessment Award at the Landscape Institute Awards 2021.
We would like to thank you all for your incredible support over these last few years, and for coming out to vote for the policies in the Plan.
This overwhelming vote gives you a voice to shape and influence the development of the Garden Villages, which we know are destined for this area and imposed by others against the will of the majority of the people who live here.
Following the adoption of the plan, we are continuing to work hard on behalf of the community we represent. Find out more about our ongoing work at both our What the NPG does page and by keeping up with our latest news.
You can download and read the full Neighbourhood Plan here:
You can also read the Policies here and a one-page Policies Summary here.
Latest News
- Residents’ update – November 2023 November 2, 2023
- A fresh start and alternative vision for Gilston? Have your say! June 28, 2023
- Local Elections 2023: Answers from candidates April 27, 2023
- Local Elections 2023: Questions for Candidates April 24, 2023
- Calling in the Gilston Area applications? March 24, 2023
- Residents demand rethink as “unviable” application for 8,500 new homes is rubber stamped March 1, 2023
- Community Presentation – February 2023 February 19, 2023
- Community Meeting – Important Update on the Gilston Area Development Villages 1-7 January 25, 2023
- NPG submits response to further revised Villages 1-6 application January 16, 2023
- NPG publishes 2021/22 annual report May 26, 2022
What is the Neighbourhood Plan Group and why do we have a Neighbourhood Plan?
The East Herts District Plan provides for 10,000 homes to be built in the Gilston Area. In exchange for the release of our Green Belt land, we were promised development of exceptional quality and 1,000 acres of community owned open space.
The residents of Hunsdon, Eastwick and Gilston joined forces and formed a Neighbourhood Plan Group to engage with the developers and authorities to represent the local communities and safeguard your interests.
After much consultation with residents, developers, other stakeholders and experts, we have drafted a comprehensive Neighbourhood Plan – later passed at referendum and formally adopted – which you can download and read in full above.
The plan builds on the previous Concept Development Framework, which outlined principles that should underpin the redevelopment of the Gilston Area.
The Plan underwent and passed independent examination by Christopher Lockhart-Mummery QC between October 2020 and February 2021.
It was accepted by East Herts Council soon after and was endorsed by the public with a 98% win at a public vote on Thursday, May 27, 2021.
Paper copies of the plan are available to borrow on request.