NHDC Corporate Plan Approved

The NHDC Corporate Plan was approved at the Council Meeting this month. It has, in addition to specifying how the Council plans to deliver its objectives, a useful set of statistics about the District. In common with most of the UK, the population of the District is getting older, but by a huge relative amount in the case of some age groups. The number of residents who are 90 years or older is expected to increase by around two and a half times by 2037, for example. Inevitably, this will lead to an even greater increase in number of unpaid carers, some of whom are themselves elderly. Around 2,500 residents (out of a total of 131,000) say they already provide 50 hours or more of unpaid care per week.

Access to Social Housing and Help for Homeless

NHDC has a duty to help homeless individuals and families find somewhere to live, even though it handed its housing stock over to North Herts Homes in 2004. Occasionally resorting to bed and breakfast accommodation temporarily although it strives to avoid this. The Housing Options Team are very experienced at helping those who are worried about being made homeless, and work closely with agencies such as Herts Young Homeless and the Citizens Advice Bureau.

NHDC also administers the Common Housing Allocation Scheme (‘CHAS’) and the Common Housing Register jointly with North Herts Homes. This allows people to apply for social housing via a single register, including the homes available through the significant number of housing associations which operate in North Herts in addition to North Herts Homes. To find out more, search for ‘Common Housing Register’ in the NHDC website or call 01438 474000 and ask to speak to the Housing Dept.

Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan in Public Examination

The Examination in Public of the Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan has started: the first meeting was scheduled for the 21st Sept. North Herts are somewhat behind its southerly neighbour, but the examination of its plan is imminent. The Local Development Scheme states that it should be complete by the end of December.

NHDC Waste & Street Cleaning Contract

Negotiations on the new Waste and Street Cleaning Contract are at an advanced stage. The contract will form the agenda for a joint meeting of the NHDC Cabinet and EHDC Executive Committee on Monday 16th October. For more details see the NHDC website. All Cabinet meetings are open to the public.