Hertsmere First

03/09/2026

It is “pandemonium” at a busy Elstree junction amid ongoing roadworks despite reports no one is actually working on site.

03/09/2026

REMINDER ABOUT OUR RESIDENTS ACTION FORUM TONIGHT - ALL RESIDENTS ARE WELCOME

📅 Thursday 3rd September
🕢 7.30pm
📍 Royal British Legion, 289 Shenley Road, Borehamwood, WD6 1TG

Please join us!

From the ugly and dangerous scaffolding on Shenley Road, to potholes in Bushey, we are really shaking things up and standing up for our residents on the things that matter to them.

Hertsmere First
People before politics.

30/08/2026

🚨🔥 OPEN TO ALL HERTSMERE RESIDENTS: RESIDENTS ACTION FORUM — JOIN US THIS THURSDAY! SPREAD THE WORD AND LET’S KEEP UP THE PACE! 🔥🚨

Three recent victories for our residents following our campaigns:

✅ WILD WEST PARKING — we’ve forced action to tackle the parking chaos in Borehamwood.

✅ BUSHEY HIGH STREET POTHOLES — we’ve secured long-overdue repairs.

✅ SHENLEY ROAD SCAFFOLDING — after months of campaigning, we’re finally beginning to see movement from the administration.

Now let’s keep up the pace. 🚀

📣 JOIN US:

📅 THURSDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER
🕢 7.30PM
📍 ROYAL BRITISH LEGION, SHENLEY ROAD, BOREHAMWOOD, WD6 1TG

Tell us your issues and concerns and we’ll start working on them.

When residents stand together, we get results.

💜 Hertsmere First
People Before Politics.

30/08/2026

SHENLEY ROAD SCAFFOLDING – LOCAL PEOPLE AND HERTSMERE FIRST’S CAMPAIGN PRESSURE CONTINUES TO FORCE CHANGES

After hanging long-suffering local shop owners out to dry for one year and 18 days when the much-loathed scaffolding on our high street was first erected, we are delighted to see that Hertsmere Borough Council’s leadership has finally decided to seek measures to offer them help.

This comes two weeks after Hertsmere First escalated our months-long campaign, when our Borehamwood Brookmeadow ward Councillor Graeme Alexander wrote to the Council to demand that they use their discretionary powers under Section 47 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 to provide the affected businesses with 50% rates relief due to the disruption, lost custom, landlords’ service charge hikes of thousands of pounds and in some cases like Borehamwood Food Centre – increased supply costs due to wasted fruit and veg due to the loss of their protective canope that the scaffold impedes.

Last week Graeme also requested that the Council offer the residents in the building above the shops a Council Tax reduction under Section 13 of the (1992) Act. Among the main victims of this fiasco, they have seen service charge hikes nearing £5,000 a year due to the cost of the scaffold that they and the shopkeepers are being made to foot the bill for by the building owners.

It won’t be lost on residents that Hertsmere Labour has just released a statement outlining that they are doing exactly the things outlined in Graeme’s letter by exploring whether they can offer affected businesses a rates reduction, even though they are claiming that it was their idea and that (without any sense of irony), “others are just talking about the problem.”

This comes after the Council’s leadership disparagingly referred to residents’ 700-strong petition (set up by Hertsmere First) for safety work to urgently be completed and the scaffold removed as a “fake campaign” at a full council meeting last month.

At the same meeting its Cabinet member Cllr Paul Richard’s also promised that the scaffold would come down “by the end of the summer,” even though the Council has granted them THREE YEARS to commence the works and building owners Leathbond Ltd have said that works will take 16 weeks to complete and won’t even start until early-2027.

We look forward to seeing the scaffold entirely removed by Tuesday morning then. But we won’t hold our breath.

In the meantime, we will continue to relentlessly campaign on this issue as we have been doing for months and would encourage residents to show support for the hard-working shopkeepers and workers affected by the scaffold by taking your custom there.

28/08/2026

🚨 ANOTHER VICTORY FOR OUR RESIDENTS — “WILD WEST” PARKING SORTED! 🚨

Last week, we told you that Hertsmere First was taking on the parking chaos on Green Street and Cowley Hill, after hearing directly from residents about dangerous and inconsiderate parking around the Stapleton Gardens development.

On Monday, on behalf of affected residents, we wrote to Cllr Nik Oakley, Hertsmere’s Portfolio Holder for Planning, demanding action.

Today, we got a result. 👇

Hertsmere has served notice on Hills that any vehicles parked on the grass verge on Cowley Hill will be towed from Tuesday. 🚗➡️🚛

The plant that arrived yesterday has also been removed, and work on the alternative parking area is continuing.

This is what Hertsmere First is about: listening to residents, taking action and getting results.

A huge well done to the residents who spoke up and brought this issue to us.

When we raise our voices together, we get results. 💜

And we’ll keep going until the job is done right across our Borough. Well done Dan Ozarow and Al Collins for leading the charge on this one.

Hertsmere First
People Before Politics.

25/08/2026

🚨 COME ALONG TO OUR RESIDENTS’ ACTION FORUM NEXT WEEK — AS HERTSMERE FIRST SHAKES THINGS UP! 🚨

Come along to our Residents’ Action Forum on 3rd September 7.30pm and make your voice heard at this pivotal moment for Hertsmere.

With the Local Plan on the horizon and Hertsmere set to merge into a larger unitary authority, your voice has never been more important.

We’ll also discuss our campaigns to get rid of the ugly scaffolding on Shenley Road and fix the potholes in Bushey, as well as any issues - large or small - that residents wish to raise at the meeting itself.

Hertsmere First
People before politics. 💜

24/08/2026

Petition victory: Bushey High Street repairs confirmed! 🎉

512 residents signed our petition calling for urgent repairs to the potholes and deteriorating road surface on Bushey High Street. We submitted the petition to Hertfordshire County Council and pressed them to deal with the issue. The Portfolio Holder for Highways has now confirmed to us that, subject to the necessary licences, road repair works are scheduled to commence between 5 and 20 October 2026.

A huge thank you to everyone who signed the petition and supported the campaign, and especially to Hertsmere First leader Councillor Marc Amron and Murray Lee for getting it started.

We’ll be watching closely to make sure the work actually takes place and that the High Street is left in the condition Bushey residents deserve.

This is a victory for Bushey residents and shows what we can achieve when residents come together to demand better services and infrastructure.

Hertsmere First
People before politics.

23/08/2026

20/08/2026

HERTSMERE FIRST TO TAKE ON WILD WEST PARKING HELL ON GREEN STREET AND COWLEY HILL

This afternoon two of our Councillors; Alpha Collins and Dan Ozarow visited residents just south of the new Stapleton Gardens housing development in Cowley Hill ward.

For months now, local people have been plagued by selfish and dangerous parking -allegedly from construction workers from the site who station their vehicles all over nearby pavements and communal green, turning it into a giant car park.

As they listened to neighbours, many expressed frustration at the apparent lack of action taken by Hertsmere Borough Council and their empty promises of a resolution.

Other upsetting experiences they heard included:

* A disabled woman who struggles to walk, who regularly has the parking space outside her home taken by a fit and healthy worker (despite asking him not to park there).

* Elderly residents who have tripped and fallen as they cross the verge due to cars sticking out.

* Children who have almost been run over as they try to cross the busy road who now have to walk out blind into oncoming traffic as their line of sight is obscured by the array of additional cars.

As well as this, many residents reported a general increase in traffic and noise disturbance since construction commenced in addition to an apparent dip in air quality, with their own vehicles visibly covered in dust during that time.

Here at Hertsmere First we will be taking swift action.

We will be writing to Thrive Homes and Hill Residential's CEO this week to ask that they ensure that their workers to park elsewhere. We will also be demanding answers from Hertsmere Borough Council as to why they appear to be in breach of Condition 24 of the Decision Notice for the planning application, by failing to ensure the “provision of sufficient on-site parking prior to commencement of construction activities” in The Construction Management Plan. If that fails then we will be contacting the respective regulators and the press.

We stand in solidarity with the affected residents.

Enough is Enough!

Photo credit: Dave Coulson

Hertsmere First
People Before Politics.

19/08/2026

Hertsmere First’s Statement regarding troubling Borehamwood Incident today

We are deeply concerned about the extremely disturbing incident at Hertsmere Council’s Civic Offices in Borehamwood this afternoon, following the delivery of two suspicious packages addressed to the Leader of Hertsmere Council, Cllr Jeremy Newmark.

The incident resulted in a major security response, including the evacuation of the Civic Offices and surrounding buildings, road closures and the mobilisation of specialist bomb disposal officers.

We also understand that a recent death threat against Cllr Newmark is currently under investigation by the police.

Whatever the motive, and whoever may be responsible, there is absolutely no place in our community, or in society more broadly, for this type of intimidation and threatening behaviour. People who choose to serve in public office should never have to face threats to their safety simply for doing the job they were elected to do.

Political differences and robust debate are an important part of democracy. Threats, intimidation and attempts to terrorise individuals are not.

Our thanks go to all the emergency services, Hertsmere Officers, the Venue together with its staff and other personnel who responded so swiftly and professionally to this afternoon’s incident, including setting up an evacuation centre for those left stranded.

Our thoughts are with Cllr Jeremy Newmark, Hertsmere Council staff and everyone else affected by what has been a deeply unsettling afternoon.

Hertsmere First
People before politics.