Planning for the Future – Inaugural Infrastructure Charrette
On 13th July, Gascoyne Cecil Estates and the Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce hosted an Infrastructure Charrette. This marked the launch of a series of events bringing business and the public sector together to discuss planning infrastructure across Hertfordshire.
The Charrette opened with presentations exploring several key topics. Namely, that collaboration amongst local authorities across Hertfordshire, and interaction between public and private sectors, is vital to the successful planning and delivery of infrastructure. That raising the bar, and aspiring to the best standards will be important to reestablishing Central Hertfordshire as a pioneering place once again. And finally that coherent infrastructure provides the foundation of healthy places in which we can live, learn, work and play.
The event attracted a diverse audience of technological innovators, business leaders, transport experts, university representatives and local authority officers and members. Following the presentations, this broad audience participated in a workshop designed to explore present frustrations each person had on journeys across the county, or with other vital infrastructure such as broadband strength, schooling or healthcare provision.
The workshop elicited the predominant concern of congestion, and determined themes to which the group will return in the future. These ranged from investing more money and building trust in public transport networks to behavioural changes focusing on reducing the number of cars on our roads in the first place.
Feedback has been encouraging, with all those responding keen to attend a similar event in the future, and especially to explore the themes raised. To this end, Gascoyne Cecil Estates and the Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce are producing a follow up paper to integrate the output from the workshop and draw on the themes to focus on in future events. Please get in touch at the email below if you would like to register to receive a copy of this paper. These will explore a range of topics, including east-west transport across Central Hertfordshire, digital connectivity, green infrastructure and public health.