The Buntingford High Street Residents group was formed at the end of the 1990s as a discussion forum for people living in or near the High Street of this old Hertfordshire market town, to offer a co-ordinated voice when dealing with issues affecting our immediate neighbourhood.

The High Street is very much the centre of our town; unlike some more modern towns it has a good mix of small shops, a few offices and a high proportion of residential accomodation. Our group doesn't speak for the High Street's commercial interests but we do our best to work in harmony with them; we are represented on the Town Centre Management Team (TCMT), an umbrella organisation for a variety of town-focussed groups including the Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Society.

This site has been set up as a point of information and contact for interested parties. Please follow the links on the right to other parts of the site...

About Buntingford

Buntingford lies in a shallow valley in the rural north-eastern corner of Hertfordshire, on the A10 London to Cambridge road; the High Street is built over Ermine Street, the road which connected London and York in Roman times. The town has a Town Council, and is the northernmost town in the East Herts District Council (EHDC) area. Services are provided by EHDC and Hertfordshire County Council (HCC), to both of whom, of course, council tax is paid. Buntingford residents pay the highest council tax in the District.

The population of the town is now just under 6000, and has increased rapidly in recent years; 20 years ago it was about 2400. Many residents now work outside the town, the more so since Sainsbury's distribution depot – previously the town's biggest employer – closed at the beginning of 2004 with the loss of 600 jobs (although it currently seems to have reopened temporarily). Unfortunately local services have not always grown to match the increased population, and in fact police numbers have been cut effectively to zero when once there were one or two officers on patrol each night.

A market was first held in Buntingford in about 1360, and it continues to be held (on Mondays) to this day. The coaching trade brought prosperity to the town from the 16th to the 19th centuries, with up to 15 inns and beerhouses at one point; many High Street properties still have the high gateways that once led to yards and stables. The 19th century railway terminus – the end of the 'Buntingford Branch' line to St. Margarets station at Stanstead Abbotts, near Ware – was closed in 1965 in the Beeching cull.

A proposal by the East of England Regional Assembly (EERA), under pressure from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, would add 20,800 new houses to the EHDC area by 2021 – the largest number for any district in the Eastern Region – plus commercial buildings for the jobs to support the houses. Details on the EERA website. It seems inevitable that Buntingford and the surrounding rural area will receive its share of new building, plus traffic resulting from growth in other areas, and this will have a knock-on effect on the High Street.