A major consultation was organised in Hatfield in 2015, and again in 2016, to allow the public to give their views on how to redevelop the town.
Out of that several points by over 900 respondents were summarised by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council while laying out its 2030+ vision for Hatfield.
Among the many points expressed by residents were improving the town centre's offer of shops, safer transport and better east-west connections, especially by foot/cycle, along with looking at the quality and quantity of housing stock in the town and the growth and retention of its residents and students through employment.
These ideas were then transformed into several building projects for the town centre to make it more attractive for shoppers.
White Lion Square has been revamped and now a £20 million Hatfield town centre development will create 71 new homes and five new ground floor retail units, providing an additional 1,000 square metres of commercial space.
The one and two-bedroom homes will be spread over three blocks and 25 per cent will be affordable housing. A new public space will also be created and landscaped to complement White Lion Square.
Construction on this area will begin after a new multi-story car park on The Common is completed, estimated at early spring, as the One Town Centre site is going to be used as a temporary car park during this time.
This plan to create a multi-storey car park is so the council can turn several car park sites into housing.
Work is also under way to regenerate Hilltop, South Hatfield into the High View development - meaning 146 new homes, a retail centre, 12 units, community facilities and amenities.
Further developments are also set for the town at Link Drive car park, which will retain the skate park and build new homes. There are also early ideas for Old Hatfield and Queensway House - which are yet to be fully revealed.
The 2030+ plans will also address transport issues in the town. As MPs and academics have recommended, more needs to be done to join up the various areas of Hatfield and move it away from over-dependence on the car.
The Hatfield 2030+ document explains the issue: "Most of Hatfield major streets’ junctions are in the form of roundabouts, which increases capacity and are designed to improve journey times, but can also be fairly land consuming and can be less friendly to other road users, notably pedestrian and cyclists."
This could mean more cycle and pedestrian ways, particularly on French Horn Lane to connect the railway, business park and town centre. This link has been incorporated as part of the town centre regeneration.
More cycle plans could also join up the town centre with the Galleria and the Uni of Herts, along with creating traffic calming measures in the town.
Director of the University of Hertfordshire's Urbanism Unit and academic director of the International Garden Cities Institute Susan Parham thinks our assumptions around travel need challenging.
"We need more active travel measures for wellbeing and health," Ms Parham said.
She also referred to the mini-Holland pedestrian and walking schemes that have been piloted in London - which have increased footfall for local businesses while decreasing parking needs and car use.
But Ms Parham said residents need to be "consulted" - a criticism which has been levelled at the Link Drive and Hunters Bridge cycle improvements - and planners need to look at what works and engage the community.
She added: "COVID gives opportunities now for repurposing ideas."
These ideas would be more residential, food grown locally, good WiFi and more leisure activities.
She also said the type of plans that WHBC has come up with, focusing on incorporating shops with more residential plans, make sense but pointed out they are not the only "game in town".
"The local authorities [borough, county and town councils] made continual attempts to make and plan Hatfield town centre well," she added. "But external structural forces like the economy [and government] make this kind of difficult."
Cllr Duncan Bell, Executive Member for Resources, said: “The future for Hatfield is extremely promising, guided by the community-backed Hatfield 2030+ partnership which brings together the borough council, University of Hertfordshire, Gascoyne Cecil Estates, the Local Enterprise Partnership, the county council and others.
“Following our multi-million pound investment in the town centre – including the transformation of the public space, shops and flats around White Lion Square – the opening of the multi-storey car park is the next step in the wider plans to secure the future prosperity of Hatfield.
"It will unlock the potential for regeneration in the town centre, over a third of which is currently covered by parking spaces, allowing for the development of some of those sites with a mixture of housing, shops, and places to eat and drink, breathing new life into the town and its economy.
“This town centre development is just one aspect of a much bigger picture. Everyone involved in delivering the ambitious plans for Hatfield 2030+ are working together to deliver renewal for the whole of Hatfield, including at High View where our £45m regeneration plans are well underway.
"We very much look forward to seeing more exciting projects take shape in the months ahead.”
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