Plans for up to 2,650 Birchall homes southeast of Welwyn Garden City are back before the public after the applicant submitted additional information. Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council and East Herts Council announced a further consultation on 15th October 2026. The outline application remains under assessment, with no planning permission announced.
The Birchall homes proposal covers land north of the A414, across land straddling Birchall/Cole Green Lane and the boundary between the two councils. Alongside housing, it includes schools, local centres, open space, community facilities and infrastructure. For nearby residents, this is another opportunity to examine the application before the authorities decide it.
I would be careful to respond to the right consultation. This application exercise is separate from the emerging Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan consultation, which closes on 5th November. The council specifically warns that the application seeks more homes than the emerging plan proposes at Birchall Garden Suburb. A response to one process should not be assumed to cover the other.
Why the Birchall homes application is being consulted on again
The latest announcement concerns application reference 6/2022/1395/OUTLINE, which has been under consideration for several years. The councils say further technical information and supporting documents have been submitted during that period. Having reviewed the material, they have decided to give residents and other interested parties another opportunity to comment.
This is a consultation on an existing application, rather than an announcement that a new scheme has been approved. The councils say comments received during the consultation period will be considered as part of the continuing assessment before the proposal is brought forward for determination.
Councillor Rose Grewal, Welwyn Hatfield’s Leader and Executive Member for Planning, encouraged people to “review the additional information that has been submitted”. That is the immediate purpose of this exercise: to allow people to consider the new material and make their views known while the application remains undecided.
For anyone following the Birchall homes proposal over several years, I would start with the additional documents rather than relying on an earlier impression of the scheme. Check their dates, identify what they add to the application and explain any concern by reference to the relevant document, drawing or passage.
A proposed neighbourhood across two council areas
The councils describe the development as a mixed-use community, with up to 2,650 homes and supporting facilities. The word “up to” matters: this is the maximum housing figure in the proposal described by the announcement, rather than a statement that precisely that number has been approved or will be delivered.
The Birchall homes site is allocated for strategic development in both the adopted Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan from 2023 and the East Herts District Plan from 2018. Allocation means the plans identify land for development. It does not replace the need to assess and determine the particular planning application.
Because the land crosses the administrative boundary, both councils are involved. Government guidance explains that applications spanning more than one local planning authority require identical applications to be submitted to each authority. For residents, the practical starting point is the official application record and the instructions accompanying the current consultation.
Outline permission and the separate Local Plan
An outline application allows the general principles of development to be considered, with one or more detailed matters left for later approval if permission is granted. Those later details are called reserved matters. The government lists access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale as the matters that can be reserved.
That explains the type of application being assessed. It does not establish which details the councils will ultimately approve here, what conditions they might impose, or when construction could begin. Those questions cannot be answered by a consultation announcement alone. The government’s application guidance explains the outline process and cross-boundary applications.
The Birchall homes application also sits alongside a separate policy process. Welwyn Hatfield is preparing a replacement Local Plan to guide development across the borough to 2043. Its current consultation is on the proposed submission version, before independent examination, and concerns the plan’s soundness and legal compliance.
The council’s current Local Plan page gives a deadline of 6pm on 5th November 2026 for those representations. That is the Local Plan deadline. It should not be treated as the deadline for comments on this planning application, which readers should check against the application notice or notification letter.
How to take part in the current application consultation
The councils say residents in the immediate area will receive letters explaining the consultation and how to make representations. Additional information and supporting documents can be viewed through their planning portals using reference 6/2022/1395/OUTLINE. Welwyn Hatfield’s planning portal is the route identified for its application record.
If you want to comment on the Birchall homes application, I would keep a copy of your response and check that it identifies the application reference. Where your point also concerns the emerging Local Plan, consider whether a separate representation is needed through that consultation’s own process. The two exercises will be considered independently.
The 15th October council announcement is the source for this fresh consultation. It does not give an application consultation closing date or a determination date. For background on what happens when a Local Plan reaches examination, our Local Plan examination guide explains that later stage.
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