One of the often overlooked areas of work Hatfield Town Council carries out, is that we consider each and every planning application within Hatfield, and decide whether to make any comments or objections to Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council – who ultimately decide them.

Every month, I voluntarily attend the Boroughs planning committee and make the case for Hatfield, on any applications that Town Councillors have agreed to object to. We have successfully stopped several inappropriate developments, and will continue to do so going forward.

Whilst the overwhelming majority of the planning applications we consider pass without any issue, there are some categories that we consider particularly closely.

The first of these is applications to create new Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs). We know that Hatfield has far too many of these already. We believe that family homes must remain as family homes, and not be converted into profit generating ventures for individuals at the expense of local communities ill-suited to these kinds of residence.

We have to find a right balance between HMO applications and family homes – and at the moment this is not being met in some areas.

More recently we have seen the plans to build hundreds of homes on Ellenbrook Field. The Labour Group on Hatfield Town Council are firmly committed to opposing this proposal, and will continue to do so for applications that deprive local residents of much needed outdoor space, or put more pressure on our already overwhelmed local services.

We can see the years of damage done to Hatfield while the Conservatives looked the other way. when hundreds of family homes were allowed to become HMOs. But when Hatfield elected a Labour Town Council in 2015, those days were over.

We, the Labour Party will continue to stand up and work hard for you.