Outline planning permission has been granted for up to 700 homes to be built in Hitchin.

The proposed major development on land at Highover Farm also includes a new two-form-entry primary school, neighbourhood facilities, allotments, open space and play space.

Primary access to the 37 hectare site will be off Stotfold Road, with limited access off High Dane.

A Design and Access Statement accompanying the planning application submitted to North Herts Council says: "The vision for the site is to deliver a sustainable northern extension to Hitchin planned around traditional garden village principles, comprising a new centrally-located Highover Park, new primary school and community hub."

It says its will be "set within an extensive network of green spaces connected by attractive greenways and tree-lined streets to support health, wellbeing and wildlife, and provide an attractive landscape setting to the new development".

However, the council has received 185 objections from neighbours, with concerns including the loss of Green Belt land, an increase in traffic, and the resultant reduced gap between Hitchin and Letchworth.

CPRE Hertfordshire (Campaign to Protect Rural England) has also objected to the plans, saying that "the site forms a significant part of the Green Belt buffer between Hitchin and Letchworth".

A report by a North Herts Council planning officer says that "highway capacity is of great concern to many residents", and "it is acknowledged that there are issues of congestion through Hitchin along Cambridge Road (A505) and the junctions it crosses at Stotfold Road roundabout and the Woolgrove Road/Willian Road signalised junction".

However, the report continues: "Hertfordshire County Council highway officers conclude that they are ‘content that the development will not have a severe impact on the local highway network’."

The planning application was submitted in 2018, but a decision has been delayed until now due to the emerging Local Plan, which was adopted in November 2022, together with detailed negotiations and drafting of the s106 legal agreement.

The Local Plan sets out how and where new homes, jobs and infrastructure will be delivered in North Herts until 2031.

A section 106 legal agreement requires a developer to contribute financially towards infrastructure and services such as community facilities, public open space and affordable housing.

The development will be phased and subject to future planning applications for reserved matters.