Cllr Vicky Glover-Ward

Cllr Vicky Glover-Ward Independent Hertford Town Councillor

01/09/2026

I will be taking a break from social media for the next few days but will be back next week

I'd like to thank East Herts Council officers and legal consultants who took speedy action over the weekend to deal with...
31/08/2026

I'd like to thank East Herts Council officers and legal consultants who took speedy action over the weekend to deal with the occupation of the site at Sheering Mill Lane. After an emergency high court injunction was issued on Saturday this was ignored and development continued.

The legal team used the evidence gathered to amend the first order to include the power of arrest in an emergency application yesterday evening which was granted. Workers arriving this morning discovered that work now carried a potential consequence of arrest and as such work ceased.

The team has really gone the extra mile, over a bank holiday weekend, to prevent continued development without planning permission. Thank you all including legal support from a combination of private and officer legal advisors supported by the superb professionals from the EHDC planning team.

Press release below

East Herts Green Party
Bishop's Stortford Independent

If you're at a loose end tomorrow the Lordship is still on tomorrow. Full of every type of chilli comestible from chi...
30/08/2026

If you're at a loose end tomorrow the Lordship is still on tomorrow.

Full of every type of chilli comestible from chilli ice-cream to chill fudge and all the jams/sauces etc between. Also entertainment including live banda, chilli eating competitions and ... Errrr.. ferret racing

Gardens are worth a walk around to admire the drought resistant planting and a brilliant example of a dead hedge



Hertford Foodswap

There is a lot of speculation and misinformation on social media regarding the works at Sheering Mill Lane in Sawbridgew...
30/08/2026

There is a lot of speculation and misinformation on social media regarding the works at Sheering Mill Lane in Sawbridgeworth. East Herts Council are posting all of the latest updates on our webpage (QR code below)

East Herts Green Party

29/08/2026

Be aware this is a civil matter

27/08/2026

We’re open today at Pinehurst Community Centre 💜

Lots of surplus food and loads of bakery goods, all FREE.

Everyone is welcome. If you need food, please come along and help yourself.

📍 Where: Pinehurst Community Centre
⏰ When: 1:30pm - 2:30pm

Don't forget to bring your bags.

25/08/2026

Today I attended the official reopening of the Rush Green McDonald's along with Josh Dean MP, Kingsmead Residents' Association - Hertford (KRA) and Cllr Ben Crystall.

On my recent visits to view the impact of the extended and optimised kitchen, new ordering system, inclusion of a delivery service and new slip road I have also been allowed limited 'back stage access' to see how it works. Today was no exception and there are a few clips and stills from the kitchen at the end of the reel

While it is early days the changes do seem to be having a really positive impact on the queues but Hertfordshire County Council are undertaking full review over the next month or two to see whether there are residual issues so any further action can be taken with either or both the owner of this McDonalds and/or bp as I have noticed some queuing and issues around the garage now that the queues are separated

One of the things I found most heartening was the genuine happiness and enthusiasm of staff for their work. Great to see in a local workplace. Worth noting that I have really appreciated the time and resources that the owner and his team have put into the improvements as everything, including the slip road, has been fully funded by McDonalds.

I know that Nigel, from KRA, is hopeful that this may be the end of his 11+ year mission to resolve the issues and is, like me, hopeful that this may be a good solution to the problem but if not we will roll up our sleeves again to get work with everyone to get the right solution to this knotty problem

24/08/2026

The final two benches of the were installed today on 'Little Hartham' in Hertford.

One bench has been painted by talented pupils from Simon B***e School and the other by And by Donna Reeves with both providing a great place to sit and watch the world go by.

Big thank you to all East Herts Council (EHC) officers who went all in to get the eleven benches installed with special mention of the teams from grounds and gardens, licencing, comms and particularly economic development and particularly Andrew Figgis.

Both of the benches are new, one provided by EHC and the other constructed by the and Managed Services with a special thank you to Jimmy.

Even I Love Hertford popped in to see the wonderful work (and features in the photo compilation.

Project was managed by Jade Dawn Designs and funded primarily from funds with sponsors including valley parks, Cllr Steven Watson, Cllr Kirsty Taylor-Moran and yours truly.

This is a magnificent project so thank you to all artist and everyone involved as it has taken a community to build this trail.

Government removes more planning powers from local authoritiesAny councillor working in the planning sphere will confirm...
23/08/2026

Government removes more planning powers from local authorities

Any councillor working in the planning sphere will confirm that it is not an easy job. All planning decisions are made against a strict set of rules; the key item being the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which is then supplemented by the Local Plan (in East Herts Council parlance 'District Plan') and neighbourhood plans etc.

A new NPPF was issued on Monday last week. This NPPF negated many of the existing policies within local plans when it was issued (it is effective immediately) by replacing them with national standards. It also means that the update to the new EH Local Plan will be far less far reaching as it will no longer be able to set standards higher than the national for many areas that are important within East Herts.

But, what two new policies do (S4 and S5) is pretty much insist that certain types of development in specific locations has to be approved if there is 'unmet need'.

Overall this revision of the NPPF is a radical centralisation of planning powers by a government that is removing the ability of local councils to decide what applications their planning committees may consider from October. I have written on this negation of democracy in an earlier post available on my page.

I said being a councillor working in planning is difficult; because planning is so regulated people do not understand why we have to make certain decisions and accuse councillors of corruption, idiocy and worse when planning decisions have been granted where, to adhere to the NPPF and precedence, the councillors on the planning committee have no other legal choice. Even other councillors do not understand and recently I was publicly accused together with all East Herts Green Party councillors on the planning committee of acting unlawfully at a full council meeting.

So, here is my synopsis of the key issues with the new NPPF along with a QR code to allow you to download and read the facts as I understand them

Cllr Steven Watson Green Party of England and Wales

Government is giving mayors the power to over rule local planning authorities about planning decisions (hint: this is no...
23/08/2026

Government is giving mayors the power to over rule local planning authorities about planning decisions (hint: this is not aimed at stopping new housing)

While this is limited to only 13 areas currently the direction of travel by this government to centralise decision making in the hands of central government is clear. The forced implementation of the 'National Scheme of Delegation' coupled with further derogation of powers under the new National Planning Policy Framework plus the diktat for Local Government 'Reorganisation' shows how this government is moving power away from local government. The latter is not devolution so much as mini dictators replacing elected councillors; who have to work together and allows for many views to be represented

The problem is that the changes to planning are being forced through by people who seem to only believe the lobbying of developers; the reality is that making it easier to get planning permission for large housing schemes will only result in developers having more planning permissions as the key driver is to turn a profit. As such the build out rate for developments will be throttled to maintain price points. It's basic capitalism

The way to tackle the affordable housing crisis is to enable publicly funded social housing to be built not to continue to rely on a few homes to be supplied out of what is left over once all the costs of development, including the stipulated high profit margin for developers, have been taken out of the sales income

East Herts Green Party Bishop's Stortford Independent

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