Local Council Endorses University Expansion Masterplan

Substantial development proposals for a university have received support from the local authority. Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council has endorsed a masterplan for the University of Hertfordshire, which may encompass new facilities for health and social work, as well as for new schools of medicine and business. Older structures at the College Lane campus in Hatfield are also scheduled for demolition, with the creation of new green spaces. While each individual undertaking will still necessitate planning permission, the masterplan will be taken into account when those planning applications are submitted. Rose Grewal, the executive member for planning at the council, informed the Local Democracy Reporting Service that she was “delighted” the initiative had been approved by the cabinet. She stated that it demonstrated the council’s “in principle support” for the university’s proposals. During the cabinet meeting, Grewal remarked that the buildings would “bring considerable benefits to the borough, including a new medical school at the College Lane campus, and a new business school at the de Havilland campus”. The university’s prior masterplan, finalized in 2019, included provisions for a new building for the school of physics, engineering, and computer science, which commenced operations earlier this year. The university’s two campuses currently serve 36,000 students and employ 3,000 staff, although it aims to increase the student population by 2,000 in the forthcoming years. Former council leader Paul Zukowskyj expressed reservations at the meeting concerning “blocks that are multiple storeys high” within the proposed development. He asserted his belief that the university “pays little regard to the impact on the green belt”. Grewal responded that each individual application would be evaluated against planning policy, including any potential impact on previously undeveloped green belt land.