29 September 2025
Thank you to everyone who took part in our summer consultation, where we shared the masterplan and supporting technical work that will form part of next month’s Outline Planning Application submission.
Over 300 people attended the three events in July and over 250 written responses were received over the summer. All the feedback has been actively considered by the team and will be summarised in a Statement of Community Involvement that will be submitted as part of the application.
The most frequently mentioned comments were in relation to transport, including requests to ensure the railway station could cope with future demand. There were also questions about congestion, with concerns from some that the early transport interventions could delay the journeys of visitors to the Town Centre.
The second most cited topic was ecology and green spaces, with respondents requesting further information in relation to the water strategy and a request to leave land on the edge of Bygrave as natural, as opposed to a park.
Thirdly, respondents focused on housing and facilities, asking how we would ensure early infrastructure delivery and guarantee a cohesive approach to secondary school provision. These key points – and all of the wider points raised – will now be worked through with the team as they finalise the plans to be submitted.
Paul Mumford, Project Director for master developer Urban&Civic, said:
“Details of the plans to Grow Baldock remain quite high level at this Outline Application stage, but the consultation provided a good opportunity to test out the plans we are putting forward, continue to ensure local views shape them, and to draw in further thoughts from people as the plans continue to develop in detail as the planning process moves forward.”
“Some of the feedback will be something we will not be able to respond directly to – such as the ask for more car parking at the station which would conflict with the plans to make the station easier to get to by bus, bike and walking. Whereas other key points like really drilling down into if early interventions to stop HCVs coming through the town might impact on businesses in the Town Centre, and how we balance those challenges out, as something the team have been working through ahead of finalising the plans to be submitted.”
“When we do submit the plans, that provides another opportunity for people to review and give their thoughts formally to us and the local planning authority who will then move the application forward through formal consultation process.”
Urban&Civic are working on a guide which will enable people to navigate through the many strategic and technical documents which together make up the Outline Application. This will be available as part of this website when the plans are submitted next month.
As part of the wider planning process going forward, a range of the wider topics that came up will be addressed. For example, the timing of key infrastructure like schools, health provision, parks and transport connections will be agreed with local authorities through the planning process and set down in the legal planning framework for the development. This will include key milestones regarding the number of new homes occupied by which key amenities need to be in place. The details of these milestones and obligations for the development will be shared ahead of agreement for local input.
You can still view the Summer Consultation materials here – these pages – Welcome Back – Growing Baldock.
Urban&Civic also hold a Growing Baldock Advisory Forum, and the feedback from the consultation was reviewed in the recent meeting – details and minutes of which are available here.
Minutes of the North Herts Council Baldock and Villages Community Forum (15th September) which provide regular updates about development proposals are also available here. This includes a presentation by Urban&Civic and both Affinity and Anglian water companies, confirming that there is enough water capacity for the development, and no additional extraction of groundwater is needed to cater for new homes.
If you need assistance accessing any of the material in the links above, please just get in touch. We would be pleased to help. You can stay up to date or get in touch with the team using the email below. We would love to hear from you.