Standing up for Welwyn Garden City.
Thank you.
The Cabinet has agreed. The Leisure Centre proposal will not go ahead.
When this began, the plan was to build up to 500 homes on Panshanger's green belt.
On Monday the 10th of August, the planning office report recommended dropping the site altogether.
The Cabinet met on the 11 August to make the decision, and there was no disagreement with the recommendation not to consider the Panshanger Golf Course as a site for redevelopment.
That didn't happen by chance. It happened because thousands of you responded to the consultation, signed the petition, wrote to councillors, and asked the hard questions. Thank you — this is your result.
You can watch the meeting at minute 33 on the following link:
https://welhat.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/1098501
Links from the Council about this proposal
The public protest has been cancelled
Based on the consultation results and the Cabinet's decision not to consider Panshanger Golf Complex for redevelopment, we have cancelled the protest set for the 22nd of August.
Please share the latest news to your neighbours and friends
Why We Care
We are not against new leisure facilities. Welwyn Garden City has no public swimming pool, and that's a real gap worth addressing.
What concerns us is how it's being paid for. Up to 500 homes would be built on green belt land at Panshanger to fund it — and the council's own consultation barely mentions them.
Welwyn Garden City is one of only two garden cities in England. The open land at Panshanger is part of what gives this town its character. Before that changes permanently, residents deserve to see the full picture: how much of the site would be built on, what happens to the trees and the River Mimram, and whether local roads, GPs, dentists and schools can cope.
What does 500 homes actually look like?
We can all picture a swimming pool. Nobody showed us the size of the housing development.
The council's published material contains no image of the housing development, no site area, and no figure for how much green space would remain. So we built our own estimate — an existing 50-home development in Welwyn Garden City, repeated ten times across the site.
When we showed this to the council's project lead, he told us it was reasonably accurate — but that the actual density would be lower, meaning the housing would be spread wider still.
This is our estimate, not the council's plan. The council's own FAQ confirms an indicative masterplan exists.
We formally asked for it to be published and they refused, so this is the best picture residents had.
Who are we?
We're residents of Welwyn Garden City — families, walkers, cyclists, neighbours. We're not a political party and we're not affiliated with the council. We've spent our own time reading the Local Plan, national green belt policy and the council's own documents, because we think decisions this permanent should be made in the open.
