Welwyn Online is an independent news and information site for Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, Hertford and Ware. We read the public record and publish what is in it, and we keep the everyday local information accurate.
Four towns and two councils
Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, along with old Welwyn, Cuffley, Brookmans Park and Woolmer Green, come under Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council. Hertford, Ware and the villages around them are in East Hertfordshire. That is two planning registers, two bin arrangements and two sets of car park charges within a few miles, and we say which applies in every story and on every reference page. Hertfordshire County Council handles roads, schools and social care throughout.
Why the planning file matters here
Welwyn Garden City was built to a plan and much of it is protected, so what can be altered and where is unusually tightly controlled. Hatfield has had large redevelopment sites in play for years. Hertford and Ware are old towns with conservation areas running through the middle of them. In all four, the planning register is where change is recorded first, and it is the part of the public record we spend most time in.
What we work from
Each council’s planning register and committee papers, licensing notices, police.uk crime data, HM Land Registry sold prices, Food Standards Agency hygiene ratings, Environment Agency flood warnings for the Lea and the Mimram, and company filings in The Gazette. Where a record is unclear we say it is unclear.
Reorganisation in 2028
Hertfordshire’s district and borough councils are due to be abolished in April 2028 and replaced by a smaller number of unitary authorities, which may put our two districts under the same successor or under different ones. We will report what the published documents say as the detail is settled.
Tips and corrections
Email hello@welwynonline.co.uk with a tip, an event worth listing, or a correction. Tips are treated in confidence, and corrections are made quickly and noted on the page.
Welwyn Online is part of Future Business Media.