John Barker Place
John Barker Place
We are delighted to mark a significant milestone on the completion of Phase 2 of the regeneration programme at John Barker Place, Hitchin (February 2025).
The new homes follow the completion of the first phase, Kingfisher House in 2022, and include 24 new homes for social rent in Oughton Court and Cornmill House. Additionally, Willow Rise, located at the rear of the development, has 22 new homes for shared ownership.
With support from North Herts Council and Homes England, Settle began work on the first phase of the two-phase redevelopment in January 2021.
Kingfisher House is a five-storey housing block, is home to 37 residents from the nearby retirement living flats at Westmill Lawns. The building also includes the local convenience shop and a takeaway unit on the ground floor.
Kingfisher House – completed in 2022
Meeting the local housing need
As Phase 2 neared completion in December 2024, we were delighted to welcome key partners and stakeholders to come and view the new homes. This included the Leader of North Herts Council, Daniel Allen; local Councillor, Cllr Nigel Mason, James Hick from Homes England and members of our partners at Lovell Partnerships Ltd to view one of the homes for social rent.
Have a look at the video below and hear from Fiona Coulson, Executive Director of Development at Settle, alongside feedback from our valued partners:
In January 2021, we put together a short film to mark the start of work on the development. Bim Afolami, MP for Hitchin and Harpenden; Martin Stears-Handscomb, Former Leader of North Hertfordshire District Council, and local resident, Jude talk about the benefits the development will bring to the Westmill community.
Hunters Architects created the CGI fly-over included in this film
- Phase 1 – Kingfisher House – completed in 2022.
- Phase 2 – 46 new homes – 22 for social rent and 22 for shared ownership – completed in February 2025.
- Phase 2A & 2B -The building on the left side is Oughton Court and the block with the entrance on the right is Cornmill House.
- Phase 2C – the building on the left is Reed House and properties on the right – Willow Court. The road between Kingfisher House and Oughton Court and behind Reed House and Willow Court is Kingfisher View. See plan below for more details.
Phase 3 – Planning permission
We are waiting for planning permission to be finalised for Phase 3 of the development at John Barker Place in Westmill, Hitchin.
The development of 48 new affordable homes will be a mixture of social rent and shared ownership homes on the site of Freemans Close.
We will keep local residents updated on the programme and when we hope to progress.
John Barker Place and Westmill Road
We also consulted on proposed plans for the development of properties 2 to 136 John Barker Place (opposite the new development) and 53 to 75 Westmill Road (odd numbers only). Proposed plans also include the redevelopment of the site of the Westmill Lawns retirement living scheme. This is the third consultation we have had on proposed plans for the new development.
You can take a look at the images and detail of the proposed plans (PDF) here.
Some of the key changes that we have made to the designs in line with resident feedback includes the positioning of open space and adjustment to some of the heights of the buildings.
If you have any questions or would like to make suggestions regarding the redevelopment, please send us an email and a member of our team will respond or call us on 0330 343 0016.
Previous proposed plans
If you would like to look back at how plans have evolved, you can view previous proposed plans that we consulted with residents on here.
We received planning permission for the new homes and shops at John Barker Place in January 2020, with the commitment that we would provide the new plea area on the edge of Swinburne playing fields before starting building work.
We were delighted to open the new playground in summer 2020.
We carry out weekly, monthly and annual safety and maintenance inspections on the playground to check play equipment.
If you spot something wrong with any of the park equipment, please let
us know by emailing johnbarkerplace@settlegroup.org.uk.
September 2024: Autumn newsletter (Lovell)
Summer 2024: Summer newsletter (Lovell)
Spring 2024: Spring newsletter ( Lovell)
June 2023: Update on regeneration letter
March 2023: John Barker Place redevelopment update – March 2023
March 2023: Jarvis Contracting – Contractor on John Barker Place in administration
December 2022: Newsletter 7 – John Barker Place Redevelopment newsletter_Issue7_
July 2022: Newsletter 6 – John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 6
February 2022: Newsletter 5 – John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 5 (PDF)
September 2021: Newsletter 4 – John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 4 (PDF)
July 2021: Newsletter 3 – John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 3 (PDF)
March 2021: Newsletter 2 – John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 2 (PDF)
January 2021: Construction work begins on £20m John Barker Place redevelopment
December 2020: Newsletter 1 – Work to begin on John Barker Place redevelopment newsletter issue 1 (PDF)
July 2020: New children’s play area opened at Swinburne playing fields in Hitchin
May 2020 Play area work to begin on Swinburne playing fields
February 2020 20m redevelopment of Hitchins John Barker Place to go ahead
November 2019 Planning application for play area to be reviewed
October 2019 Update following public meeting on 21 October
October 2019 Invitation to public meeting on Monday 21 October
August 2019 Children’s play area proposed for Swinburne playing fields
August 2019 Have your say on the John Barker Place redevelopment
June 2019 Redevelopment of Hitchin’s Westmill estate moves step forward
April 2019 Our redevelopment plans for John Barker Place, Hitchin
April 2019 Redevelopment of John Barker Place, Hitchin
Questions and answers
Stay in touch
A team of colleagues from Settle will be focussed on the delivery of this project, working alongside our partners. We will work closely with residents and the wider Westmill community as the delivery of the new homes and facilities progress.
The team from Settle includes:
- Shenaz Virji, head of development delivery
- Georgia-may Laurie, regeneration manager
- Anne Bircham, regeneration officer
We will provide regular updates as the development work at John Barker Place continues. If you’d like to get involved and share your feedback, we’d love to hear from you.
- We will provide regular updates on these web pages
- You can contact the team through the dedicated email address we have set up for this project. Please send any questions to johnbarkerplace@settlegroup.org.uk
- You can also call us on 0330 343 0016 if you want to talk through anything.
Keep me informed
If you’d like to receive regular updates on our work at John Barker Place, please provide your details below.