Bishop’s Stortford News is an independent news and information site for Bishop’s Stortford and for the Broxbourne towns. We work from public records, we link to them, and we are not connected to either council.
Two districts, one site
We should be plain about this, because it is unusual. Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbridgeworth are in the East Hertfordshire district. Broxbourne, Waltham Cross, Cheshunt and Hoddesdon are in the borough of Broxbourne. Those are two separate authorities with separate planning registers, separate bin arrangements, separate car park rules and separate council tax bills, and a site covering both has to name the right one every single time. That is what we do: every story and every reference page says which council it applies to.
What the two ends have in common
Both sit on the eastern edge of Hertfordshire, both look to London for work, and both have the pressures that come with that. Stansted Airport shapes a great deal of life around Bishop’s Stortford. The Lea Valley runs the length of the Broxbourne side, with the regional park along it. Housing pressure, road schemes and airport-related development turn up in both districts’ paperwork constantly.
What we work from
Each council’s planning register and committee papers, licensing notices, police.uk crime data, HM Land Registry sold prices, Food Standards Agency hygiene ratings, Environment Agency flood warnings for the Stort and the Lea, and company filings in The Gazette. Hertfordshire County Council runs roads, schools and social care across both districts. We name the responsible body in every story.
Reorganisation in 2028
Hertfordshire’s district and borough councils are due to be abolished in April 2028 and replaced by a smaller number of unitary authorities. That will change who answers for planning, bins and council tax in both halves of our patch, and it may well put them under different successors. We will report what the published documents say as the detail is settled rather than guessing at it.
Tips and corrections
Email hello@bishopsstortfordnews.co.uk with a tip, an event worth listing, or a correction. Tips are treated in confidence, and corrections are made quickly and noted on the page.
Bishop’s Stortford News is published by Future Business Media.