This site covers two parts of Hertfordshire that do not usually get put together. Bishop’s Stortford sits on the Stort and the Essex border, with Sawbridgeworth below it and Stansted Airport a few minutes up the road. Broxbourne, Waltham Cross, Cheshunt and Hoddesdon are further west, strung along the Lea and the road and rail lines into London.

They are in different district councils, and we are straightforward about that throughout, because it decides who empties your bin and who rules on the application next door. What the two halves share is a county, a set of railway lines into Liverpool Street, and the same problem of decisions being published where nobody reads them. We read them and report what they say, with a link to the document each time.

The three hubs

• Local Info: bin collection days, parking and council tax bands, with the right council named for each area.
• News: the public record, including planning applications in both districts.
• What’s On: what is happening in Bishop’s Stortford, Hoddesdon and Waltham Cross.

Every fact carries a link to its official source.