The council wants to build 44 temporary homes for homeless households on the cleared Howlands House site in WGC. Comments close on 28 October.
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council has applied for planning permission to build 44 temporary homes for homeless households at Howlands House in Welwyn Garden City. The public can comment until 28 October.
The application, reference 6/2026/1689/MAJ, was received on 25 September. The council is both the applicant and the planning authority that will decide it. The register lists it as a delegated decision, which means planning officers rather than a committee would decide it, unless that changes.
What is planned
The site on Howlands, in the south-east of the town, used to hold a temporary housing hostel. Its buildings have since been demolished and the site cleared, according to the architects’ design and access statement.
The new scheme is a single building of three and four storeys. The plans and the transport statement set out:
- 44 homes: 3 one-bedroom, 19 two-bedroom and 22 three-bedroom
- a staff office and a laundry
- a children’s play space
- 30 car parking spaces, five of them disabled bays, all with electric vehicle charging
- 40 cycle spaces in secure stores
- a substation, plant enclosure and landscaping
Access stays on the existing junction with Howlands.
Bigger than before, smaller than last time
The old hostel had 23 homes and 28 parking spaces, according to the transport statement by consultants DHA. Those were 19 three-bedroom flats, three one-bedroom flats and one three-bedroom house. The new plan nearly doubles the number of homes.
It is the second attempt. An earlier scheme, reference 6/2020/1162/MAJ, was submitted in 2020 and withdrawn in October 2024. The council’s own documents differ on its size: the design statement says 68 homes, the transport statement says 72. It was not refused.
In a cover letter dated 4 September, architects Rock Townsend say the new design puts one building towards the centre of the site. They say this reduces its visual impact and gives more distance from neighbouring homes.
The planning register records the site as inside a conservation area and within the Welwyn Garden City Estate Management Scheme area.
What consultees and neighbours have said so far
By Sunday morning, the register showed these responses:
- Hertfordshire County Council’s archaeology adviser asked for trial trenching and monitoring of groundworks. The site may hold remains of Howlands Farm, shown on the 1838 tithe map, and of a late Victorian house called Howlands.
- Historic England said it was not offering advice and suggested the council use its own specialists.
- Active Travel England had no comment, because the scheme is below its size threshold.
- Three neighbour comments: one in support and two objections.
The supporter called it “much needed housing” and said reusing the site “decreases harm elsewhere”. One objector said the site should be limited to two or three storeys. The other said the plan does not keep to the rules residents in the area have to follow, citing the conservation area and the Estate Management Scheme.
What it means for you
- Comment by 28 October. Use the reference 6/2026/1689/MAJ on the council’s planning register, where the plans, the design statement and every consultee response can be read.
- Comments are judged on planning grounds: height, design, effect on neighbours, trees, parking and flood risk.
- If you need help with housing now, the council’s homelessness service is the place to start.
In Hatfield, the former Beales Hotel was given another temporary permission as a 53-room hostel last month: our report on that decision. For other applications across the borough, see our Welwyn Hatfield planning news page.
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