Policy information sourced from the Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan

SP 16 Welwyn Garden City Town Centre Strategy

The Council will support the development of Welwyn Garden City town centre as the borough’s primary comparison shopping retail destination. New development should make a positive contribution to improving the town centre’s viability and vitality, support the creation of a comfortable, safe, attractive and accessible shopping environment, and improve both the overall mix of land uses in the centre and its connectivity to adjoining areas. This will be achieved, in accordance with the Strategy Diagram below, by:

  • Providing opportunities for new retail investment in the town centre and other associated uses, to increase its retail offer and commercial viability and maintain or improve its position in the regional and local shopping hierarchy. The main opportunity for this is the Town Centre North site, HS7
  • Maintaining the centre’s important civic, cultural and community functions which should remain focused in The Campus area.
  • Improving movement and access within the centre, giving priority to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport, whilst maintaining and optimising the management of car parking provision.
  • Enhancing the quality of its environment, its open spaces and public realm, recognising the character of the garden city, in order to improve its attractiveness as a centre.
  • Increasing the diversity of uses in the centre, in particular cafés, restaurants and pubs, but also residential, hotel, offices and leisure, so enhancing its attractiveness as a centre, extending its life into the early evening and providing a broader range of services to local people.
  • Providing opportunities for shopping, community and leisure events to encourage more people to visit the town centre.

All new development within Welwyn Garden City town centre will be required to contribute positively to this strategy. Applications for larger scale development (over 1,000sqm floorspace) will be required to demonstrate how the proposal:

  1. Supports the delivery of the town centre strategy;
  2. Has been informed by the current, emerging and future context of its site;
  3. Will not be detrimental to the successful current or future implementation of opportunities on other nearby sites, or their ability to meet the town centre vision or objectives.

For more information please see the Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan