East Herts has scored 55 villages on shops, buses and schools. Much Hadham ranks 4th; Spellbrook and High Wych slip. The Executive decides on 6 October.
East Herts Council has ranked 55 of its villages by how well they are served by shops, buses, schools and other facilities. Much Hadham, about four miles west of Bishop’s Stortford, comes fourth. Stanstead Abbotts and St Margarets comes top with a score of 97.
The ranking is the new Village Hierarchy Study. The council’s Executive will be asked on Tuesday 6 October to adopt it as evidence for the new Local Plan (Executive report, East Herts Local Plan: Village Hierarchy Study).
It matters beyond the Local Plan. If the Executive agrees, the study also becomes “a material consideration” in deciding planning applications. So a village’s score can be weighed when someone applies to build there, as soon as the study is adopted.
The top ten places
The study scores each village on facilities within 800 metres, roughly a ten-minute walk, and on its buses and trains (Village Hierarchy Study 2026).
| Rank | Village | Score | 2016 rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanstead Abbotts and St Margarets | 97 | 1 |
| 2 | Standon and Puckeridge | 82 | 3 |
| 3 | Watton-at-Stone | 66 | 2 |
| 4 | Much Hadham | 57 | 4 |
| 5 | Walkern | 51 | 6 |
| 6 | Hertford Heath | 49 | 6 |
| 7 | Aston | 42 | 12 |
| 7 | Datchworth | 42 | 7 |
| 8 | Thundridge | 40 | 9 |
| 9 | Dane End | 39 | 11 |
| 9 | Tewin | 39 | 10 |
Villages with the same score share a rank, so the list runs to 33 places, not 55.
The villages around Bishop’s Stortford
Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbridgeworth are towns, so they are not in the study. These are the villages closest to them. Distances are straight-line from the town centre.
| Village | Distance | Score | Rank 2026 | Rank 2016 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Much Hadham | 4 miles west | 57 | 4 | 4 | none |
| Spellbrook | 2.5 miles south | 33 | 14 | 12 | down 2 |
| High Wych | 4.5 miles south-west | 33 | 14 | 12 | down 2 |
| Little Hadham | 3 miles west | 29 | 17 | 21 | up 4 |
| Hadham Ford | near Little Hadham | 27 | 19 | 15 | down 4 |
| Furneux Pelham | 5 miles north-west | 26 | 20 | 23 | up 3 |
| Stocking Pelham | 5 miles north-west | 20 | 24 | new | not in 2016 |
| Albury | 4 miles north-west | 18 | 26 | 29 | up 3 |
Much Hadham is the only village near the town to score points for each of these within walking distance:
- a pub
- a shop
- a place of worship
- a village hall
- a pharmacy
- a post office
- public open space
Further out, Widford and Braughing both score 37 and share 11th place. Braughing has fallen six places since 2016, one of the biggest drops in the district. Hunsdon scores 38 and has fallen four places.
The biggest movers
The study compares each village with the last one, published in 2016.
- Wadesmill rose 15 places, from 25th to 10th
- Cole Green rose 13 places, from 31st to 18th
- Cottered, Little Berkhamsted, Bramfield and Ardeley each rose nine
- Braughing fell six places, from 5th to 11th
- Great Amwell and Tonwell each fell five
The covering report to the Executive gives slightly different numbers for some of these. It says Wadesmill rose 13 places, Cole Green 14, Braughing fell 5 and Great Amwell 4. We have used the study’s own table.
Why the list has grown
The 2016 study covered 37 villages. This one covers 55. Among the newcomers are Stocking Pelham, Meesden, Chipping, Aspenden and Wyddial in the north of the district. Green End, near Ware, comes bottom with a score of 4.
The council says parish councils were asked to check the draft information on their villages, and their corrections were used.
What the ranking does not decide
The report is clear on this point. “No decisions on village categorisation, development allocations or the scale of future growth are being made through this Study,” it says.
The study itself adds that a high score “does not mean a settlement is automatically suitable for significant growth”. A low score does not rule development out either.
In the current District Plan, the 2016 study was used to sort villages into Category 1 and Category 2. The new Local Plan is expected to do something similar, and this ranking will feed into it.
What it means for you
- If you live in one of the 55 villages, look up your village’s score in Table 2 of the study. It shows what the council counted in your village and what it did not.
- If a facility is missing or has closed, the study will go out to public consultation as part of the new Local Plan. That is the point to correct it.
- If you are objecting to or supporting a planning application in a village, its score may be used in the decision once the Executive adopts the study.
- The Executive meets at 7pm on Tuesday 6 October. The same meeting also considers the housing register residency rule. For live applications in the town, see our Bishop’s Stortford planning news.
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