Sandy Walkington Chair of Hertfordshire

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Sandy Walkington Chair of Hertfordshire Our current Chair is Cllr Sandy Walkington.

The Chair's role is to represent the county council at civic and ceremonial events, promote the county, encourage greater partnership working, and act as an ambassador and champion for Hertfordshire.

‘Rabunzel, Rabunzel! Let down your ears!’This year’s Hertfordshire Libraries Summer Reading Challenge was themed ‘Read ...
04/10/2026

‘Rabunzel, Rabunzel! Let down your ears!’

This year’s Hertfordshire Libraries Summer Reading Challenge was themed ‘Read to the Beat’. As a last hurrah two young readers drawn at random from each library in the county came together in Welwyn Garden City to hear writer/performer Gareth Roberts literally read to the beat his story ‘Rabunzel’ with guitar and trumpet accompaniment.

A very funny take on Rapunzel about a baby rabbit with unfeasibly long ears.

The reading scheme has been a huge success. If all those taking part had queued up outside the WGC library door, the line would have stretched as far as Hertford Library. Over 1,000 participants got their library cards for the first time - a real achievement just getting them into the library habit.

TWO LEGS GOOD, TWO WHEELS BETTER!Of course the sunshine helped but such a glorious experience yesterday morning joining ...
03/10/2026

TWO LEGS GOOD, TWO WHEELS BETTER!

Of course the sunshine helped but such a glorious experience yesterday morning joining the weekly Prae Wood School Bike Bus in St Albans.

It’s a really great idea, giving young cyclists road confidence and a thrilling and vigorous start to their school day in a time when more traffic and speeding drivers give parents cause for concern at letting their children cycle on the road.

We started with just one pupil and then gathered more of all ages and sizes as we cycled round the Verulam estate. You saw them waiting in their distinctive Prae Wood uniform, and then sliding into the rolling crocodile. Parents also joining in, some running, some cycling.

Andy Kent the organiser thought they had 38 pupils yesterday, a record. Joining with me were Tracey from the county council’s active travel unit and Rona from St Albans Cycle Campaign.

We are currently consulting on 20 mph for the Verulam estate. Initiatives like this show why it is so important.

More info on the Bike Bus below!

I always include carers when I talk about the army of volunteers who glue Hertfordshire together. We owe carers a huge a...
02/10/2026

I always include carers when I talk about the army of volunteers who glue Hertfordshire together. We owe carers a huge amount - of course they are doing it for their loved ones but without their love and commitment the burden on our social services would be unimaginable.

Last night we had a thank you party for at least some of them. Cllr Liz Needham and Director of Adult Care Helen Maneuf gave thoughtful speeches. We had moving personal experiences from carers themselves. And Michele Stokes of Carers in Hertfordshire knocked it out of the park.

And there was great music from Stevenage’s all-ability Sing Rock Choir.

Carers in Hertfordshire

I was delighted to join Cllr Ahanta Hilton and help cut a sod at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Hertfordshire ...
30/09/2026

I was delighted to join Cllr Ahanta Hilton and help cut a sod at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Training Centre in Stevenage.

The £14.8 million project will transform firefighter training and will be nationally significant. As well as mock buildings featuring high-rise, house, flat, basement and garage environments, there will also be a full-scale replica six-lane motorway B with all the fixtures, signage and lighting encountered in the real thing.

I am so pleased our fire-fighting recruits and those from neighbouring authorities will be able to train in such a brilliant facility.

All being well I will be back to see the completed world-class project this time next year.

Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service

Hertfordshire Health Walks knocked it out of the park today. Literally as volunteers Anne and Rita led us from Hertford ...
28/09/2026

Hertfordshire Health Walks knocked it out of the park today. Literally as volunteers Anne and Rita led us from Hertford into Panshanger on a comfortable 4 mile circuit.

A crowd of regulars, most like me with 7 as the first number of our age, at least one 87 year old.

Great conversation as we went round. These walks press so many buttons in generating health and wellbeing.

Hertfordshire Health Walks
Panshanger Park,

Hertfordshire’s local community libraries only survive because they are run by volunteers, looked after by a ‘buddy libr...
25/09/2026

Hertfordshire’s local community libraries only survive because they are run by volunteers, looked after by a ‘buddy library’. Yesterday I went to Knebworth, which is under the wing of Stevenage, and met Alison who chairs the 35-strong team who keep the library open.

And the real bonus was Baby Rhyme Time with Maeve, who like Alison had worked in computers before retiring. Stephen who I also met had worked in the City before retiring.

The library itself is a beauty - rebuilt on its old site to include the doctor’s surgery.

Great fun going back to school at Prae Wood to learn about the benefits of 20 mph in residential areas. Impressively bri...
23/09/2026

Great fun going back to school at Prae Wood to learn about the benefits of 20 mph in residential areas. Impressively bright and engaged Year 5’s learned about why it takes so much time for cars to stop, they acted out stopping distances by measuring their classroom, and they wrote up their thoughts on why twenty is plenty.

The county council is currently consulting on 20 mph for the Verulam estate where the school is situated. Many of the pupils walk to school, there is even a ‘bike bus’ on Fridays. It would be great to increase these numbers. I hope these bright young residents lobby their parents, grandparents and other carers to back the proposal.

Prae Wood Primary School

Britain is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world - in the bottom ten percent of nations. Our chalk stre...
22/09/2026

Britain is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world - in the bottom ten percent of nations. Our chalk streams are a precious resource, Hertfordshire hosts a significant number of them. They are under huge pressure from over-abstraction of ground water, inappropriate farming methods, polluting waste water, the negative impacts of canalisation and weirs.

I spent the day seeing a remarkable flagship river restoration project on the River Beane at Woodhall Park near Watton-at-Stone.

A partnership between Affinity Water, the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, the Environment Agency, a far-sighted landowner and the invaluable volunteers of the River Beane Restoration Association has breathed new life into the river.

Work has been done to restore chalk stream qualities to the river with new bendy channels, new gravel beds, vegetation cleared in crucial places, water voles reintroduced and flourishing thanks to the elimination of non-native mink.

The health of the river is then monitored through counting river fly which are at the base of the food chain.

Great to have a good news story.

and Middlesex Wildlife Trust
Beane Restoration Association

Who knew that Hertfordshire has our very own Pearly Queen, Nicola Marshall from Welwyn Garden City? I met her this afte...
20/09/2026

Who knew that Hertfordshire has our very own Pearly Queen, Nicola Marshall from Welwyn Garden City? I met her this afternoon at the joyous Harvest Festival of The London Pearly Kings and Queens Society.

It started with dancing and music outside the City of London Guildhall, we then processed to St Mary-le-Bow of Bow Bells fame for a service, and finally a knees-up at the pub, pork pies, sandwiches and ukuleles. They invite all the mayors and chairs from the London boroughs and neighbouring authorities. It’s when I get robe envy.

And there was a bishop.

There will be official pictures but I hope this gives a flavour of the magnificent service of installation for Andrew Ru...
19/09/2026

There will be official pictures but I hope this gives a flavour of the magnificent service of installation for Andrew Rumsey as the eleventh Bishop of St Albans. I was there as forty first chair of Hertfordshire County Council and because my division includes the cathedral, the bishop is my constituent.

It was an extraordinary privilege to be there with fellow dignitaries from across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, the clergy in all their ecclesiastical glory, wonderful music and a packed cathedral.

The new bishop’s final words from the west door at the end of the service were ‘God bless this City and Diocese, and all who live and work here’.

And then there was cake.

St Albans Cathedral

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Stevenage
SG

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