Issue - meetings

Question from Daryl Osborne – Secretary, Bus Users Group Stevenage (BUGS)

With reference to the Environment and Economy Select Committee report entitled ‘ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMY SELECT COMMITTEE: FINAL REPORT - REVIEW OF BUS SERVICES’ dated 06/02/24, and the recommendations contained therein, what progress has been made in relation to each individual recommendation set out within that report?

Question from Jack Downie-Webb

The latest data from the CPRE reveals that there are currently 273 long-term empty homes sitting unused within Stevenage.  Stevenage Borough Council frequently justifies the ongoing development and loss of our town’s green spaces, such as those in and around Symonds Green, by citing housing need. However, other local authorities, including councils like Mid Suffolk and Lewes District Council, are successfully using their legal powers to tackle this issue without further loss of green space.  They’re implementing Council Tax premiums, using Empty Dwelling Management Orders, and pursuing targeted Compulsory Purchase Orders to bring wasted properties back onto the market.

While these tactics are already described in Stevenage Borough Council’s own Empty Homes Strategy, the fact that 273 properties remain unused suggests these powers are not being used to their full effect. 

Will the council commit to prioritising bringing these empty homes back into use, which it already has powers to do, before approving further loss of our green spaces?

None received.

There were no questions from the public.

Question from Jennifer Huygen

With thanks to Cllr Simon Speller, Cllr Rob Broom and officers for keeping me personally in the loop on the progress of the pre-requisite works in Fairlands Valley Park.

In December 2023, the Council unanimously supported considering eco-friendly, wildlife-conscious lighting. The requisite bat survey, funded in the 2025/26 budget to remove the ecological barrier, is now complete.

However, the Green Spaces Strategy 2025-2035, developed following this vote, categorises this project (Action FV1) as 'Long Term (8-10 years)' to merely 'explore options'. This implies a delivery date of 2033-2035.

This timeline is now untenable given three key developments:

• National Policy: The Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 Report (published 2 December 2025) explicitly classifies 'better street lighting' as a critical preventative measure for violence against women and girls.
• Local Precedent: The Council's Community Safety Unit and Herts Police are currently consulting on a 'Safer Route' from the Old Town, explicitly stating that a 'well-lit route... enhances confidence and security for everyone, especially women and girls.'
• Community Demand: The 'Glow Ride' (October 2025) demonstrated active, physical demand for safer, lit cycling routes in the park.

It is also widely recognised, including in the Angiolini Inquiry, that violence and harassment in public spaces are significantly under?reported, and that many women and girls avoid unlit parks after dark, so recorded crime figures do not fully reflect the level of risk they experience.

Given this material change in national safety guidance, the completion of the bat survey, and the Council’s own commitment to “Safer Routes” elsewhere in Stevenage, will the Council now bring forward and implement an accelerated, wildlife?conscious lighting scheme for Fairlands Valley Park by reclassifying Action FV1 from “Long Term” to “Short Term (1–3 years)”, updating the wording to “Install wildlife?conscious lighting”, allocating the necessary capital funding within the 2026/27 budget (ahead of the 12 February 2026 decision), and commencing design work immediately using the bat survey findings to mitigate wildlife disturbance while enhancing the confidence and security of everyone using the park, especially women and girls?

The Council noted that a response to the question submitted by Jennifer Huygen regarding lighting in Fairlands Valley Park had been published in the supplementary agenda for the meeting.

Jennifer Huygen was present at the meeting and asked the following supplementary question:

Does the Council agree that outdoor safety for all residents, particularly women and girls was a priority and that therefore the lighting in Fairlands Valley Park should be implemented as soon as possible and could the Council clarify when the park would have the wildlife friendly lighting installed to ensure that residents did not have to spend another winter avoiding this key active travel route in the Town.

Councillor Rob Broom, Portfolio Holder for Environment, thanked Ms Huygens for her patience with what had been a long process.  He advised that the investigations and drawing together the information around the bat report were currently underway and he envisaged that the Council would reach an informed decision which strived to balance public safety, resource pressures and ecological considerations in the park.  He invited Ms Huygens to a meeting in the new year to discuss the findings and hopefully arrive at a sustainable and amicable outcome for all.

None received.

There were no questions from the public.