News from the Garden City Meeting

On behalf of Alan Scouller, Chairman of the Heritage Foundation and myself, can I thank the 230 plus people who attended the annual Garden City Meeting in the Spirella Ballroom on 9th May.

It was good to see such a large number of people there to hear presentations covering the previous twelve months of hectic, but positive activity at the Foundation.

In our lengthy ‘Question Time’ session, where the audience were as usual, given ample opportunity to ask any questions, there was a wide range of questions.

Subjects raised included proposed changes to the fast train services to and from London, using local labour for the proposed town centre redevelopment, anti-social behaviour in our town centres; Landlord Consent matters; traffic flows when the Skills Centre development is finished and opportunities for affordable housing through the International Housing Competition.

I took the opportunity at the meeting to show images of ‘work–in-progress’, regarding the proposed changes to The Wynd and the Street Scene - the latter having been put on public display at Morrisons supermarket recently. We remain in dialogue with North Herts District Council Planners and Hertfordshire Highways regarding both schemes and hope to be in a position to submit planning applications by the end of June.

Judging by the positive response to our proposals at the Town Meeting, I am sure that Letchworthians generally will be enthused by our proposals when they are finalised and planning applications submitted. At that time we will hold a public display of our proposals.

As I said at the meeting, I firmly believe that the plans we have unveiled to date, and those in the future relating to the Arena/Eastcheap/Broadway site, will be the catalyst for not only arresting the decline in our town centre, but transforming it into a vibrant shopping, leisure and residential environment.

Stuart Kenny, Director General
14 May 2007