Hertford, The long-running dispute over plans to build more than 100 homes on Bengeo Field has taken a fresh turn after campaigners secured a reconsideration of their legal challenge against East Herts District Council’s decision to approve the development.
The Save Bengeo Field (SBF) Group, which formalised as a limited company earlier this year, filed for a judicial review on 3 April 2025 following the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for 118 homes on the site. While the Planning Court initially declined to grant the review outright, on 3 November it ruled that the group’s case had “sufficient merit” to warrant a reconsideration.
The group formally applied for that reconsideration on 6 November, a move it described as “an opportunity” that the Court could have refused if it had deemed the claim groundless.
Strengthened Legal Grounds
SBF said it had since bolstered its case, submitting nine grounds for reconsideration. Four of these relate directly to how the planning decision was presented by East Herts District Council’s own officers and the way it was explained to councillors at the Planning Committee meeting in September 2024.
“We believe we have significantly strengthened our case since we submitted our original claim back in April 2025,” the group said in its statement. “We expect the next stage will be a short hearing at the Planning Court when we will have the opportunity to present our case for granting a Judicial Review. We remain hopeful that a Judicial Review will be granted.”
Disputed Planning Process
The controversy centres on East Herts District Council’s 21 February 2025 decision to approve the housing scheme by developer Durkan. The decision has drawn widespread criticism from local residents, who argue it contradicts both the Council’s own District Plan and the Bengeo Neighbourhood Area Plan, both of which identified Bengeo Field as a landscape of special significance.
Bengeo Field, located on the northern edge of Hertford, was originally given the lowest rating for development suitability in the 2015 East Herts Green Belt Review. Although it was removed from the Green Belt in the 2018 District Plan, this was conditional on prior quarrying of a neighbouring site—an activity that never took place after a separate application for gravel extraction was rejected by the Planning Inspectorate and the Secretary of State.
Under the Council’s Policy HERT4: North of Hertford, the area was to accommodate 150 homes, but only after mineral extraction had occurred. The SBF group argues that the Council’s officers and members disregarded this stipulation when they approved the housing scheme.
Local Voices of Concern
The decision has been strongly criticised by local figures and residents.
Dr Andrew Stevenson, former Bengeo County Councillor, said:
“I was County Councillor at the time that the District Council were developing and consulting on their planning policy. I was told very clearly in meetings and it was in the documents that the policy was only to develop this land for housing IF AND AFTER a quarry had been developed and completed. I was very surprised to see the officers report of the District Council recommending housing without a quarry having been built. This goes against everything I was led to believe at the time.”
Local resident Veronica Fraser described the Council’s decision as a “total betrayal”.
“I’m absolutely horrified that EHDC have agreed housing development on Bengeo Field. I want our Bengeo Councillors, and the Council overall, to know that that decision is considered a total betrayal of democratic representation, and the Council’s commitment to the Bengeo Neighbourhood Area Plan and that no building development would happen unless the area was quarried,” she said.
“I attended the EHDC Committee meeting where development was approved and, as someone supportive of local councils, I was deeply disappointed by the quality of the discussion and the many inaccurate statements that preceded the vote.”
Costs, Community, and Campaigning
In its initial determination, the Planning Court described Durkan’s claim for legal costs as “excessive”. Campaigners argue that this amounts to an attempt to intimidate residents rather than allow a fair hearing of the case.
SBF says it has proposed a “fair-minded approach” to East Herts District Council under which each party bears its own costs, thereby avoiding any financial burden on local taxpayers.
Campaigner Aśka Pickering said the community’s support continues to grow:
“The residents of Hertford and areas around have tirelessly campaigned for a number of years to protect Bengeo Field from development, as this is a much loved and much used green area. Community support to save Bengeo Field from housing development is now growing rapidly with fundraising actively under way.”
The campaign builds on the earlier Stop Bengeo Quarry movement, which gathered more than 4,000 supporters and led to the government blocking quarrying plans in the area.
Resident John Howson, former Chair of the Bengeo Neighbourhood Area Plan, said:
“In essence what the landowner has done is propose a quarry as a mechanism to get land taken out of the green belt with the sole intention of then building houses. Thus, setting a dangerous precedent. On this basis the Council’s decision would give a green light to any developer to get land removed from green belt whatever its public use and landscape value.”
A Continuing Legal Battle
The Save Bengeo Field Group hopes that the forthcoming hearing will allow its strengthened case to be heard in full. For now, campaigners remain determined to preserve the field as an open green space valued by the Hertford community.
Further details are available at www.SaveBengeoField.org.uk.
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