Plans for up to 87 new homes on Bury Green Road will return to Cheshunt councillors on 30 June 2026 after a legal tangle involving Broxbourne Council’s own land interest stalled an earlier approval. The Borough of Broxbourne Council‘s Planning and Regulatory Committee will reconsider an addendum report on Hertfordshire County Council’s outline application for the 3.77-hectare site west of the road, already earmarked for around 90 dwellings under the Local Plan.
The scheme was originally resolved for permission in March 2025, but it emerged that Broxbourne holds a long leasehold in the land, making a conventional Section 106 legal agreement impossible because a council cannot enforce a contract against itself. To untangle the problem, officers propose attaching a shadow agreement and a “Grampian” condition that bars any construction until all future interests in the site are bound by the obligations. The addendum report states that the approach carries a “negligible” risk given both authorities are responsible public bodies. If backed, the plan would deliver 40 per cent affordable housing, split between affordable rent and shared ownership, and over £3 million in infrastructure contributions.
The cash pot totals £3,015,178, equivalent to about £34,657 per dwelling. Almost £1.84 million is earmarked for education, with further sums including £659,859 for sport and recreation at Laura Trott Leisure Centre and Cheshunt Park Golf Centre, £182,561 for highways, and smaller allocations for health, libraries, youth services and outdoor play. The estate, mainly two- and three-bedroom homes reached from Lieutenant Ellis Way, sits between Cheshunt Cemetery to the west and St Mary’s Church of England secondary school to the south-east. Council documents note that both the Environment Agency and Hertfordshire County Council Highways have now withdrawn their earlier objections.
The application was first lodged in January 2018 and revised with fresh papers in late 2023, after the site was formally allocated under Policy CH9 in the Broxbourne Local Plan adopted in June 2020. Part of the land was once used for gravel extraction before being infilled. At the March 2025 hearing, officers voiced concern that extra financial demands from the county’s Growth and Infrastructure Team could undermine viability, though the new addendum tables contributions that will now go before the committee chaired by Councillor P Chorley.
The meeting starts at 7pm in the Council Chamber at Bishops’ College, Churchgate, with contact officer H Toprak handling the paperwork. The officer recommendation in the published report asks members to grant outline permission subject to the conditions appended, clearing a path for detailed designs to follow.
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