The Environment, Transport and Growth Cabinet Panel were scheduled to meet on Thursday 10 July 2025 to discuss the Stansted Airport expansion planning application, the modern industrial strategy response, and the Get Hertfordshire Working plan.

Stansted Airport expansion

The panel was scheduled to discuss a planning application by London Stansted Airport to Uttlesford District Council. The application requests permission for airfield works, including two new taxiway links to the existing runway, called the Rapid Access Taxiway and Rapid Exit Taxiway. These changes would enable the airport to maintain 274,000 aircraft movements while increasing passenger throughput from 43 million passengers per annum (mppa) to 51 mppa.

The report pack included a copy of the County Council’s response to the airport's Sustainable Development Plan consultation, which broadly welcomed the likely economic benefits of growth, and the anticipated containment of environmental impacts to within existing permitted limits, subject to technical evidence. The response also expressed concern regarding the lack of evidence relating to surface access implications, the need for engagement with relevant partners, and the need to improve east-west accessibility, recognising the potential future role of the Hertfordshire Essex Rapid Transit (HERT).

The report pack noted that the council was reviewing the technical evidence accompanying the application, particularly regarding noise, surface access, and air quality, especially concerning the Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) at Hockerill Junction in Bishop's Stortford.

The report pack included a summary of the applicant's assessment of the main anticipated impacts of the proposal:

• Economy and employment: The proposal suggests moderate to major beneficial impacts, including an additional 0.5 million business passengers, contributing £1.2 billion to the UK's Gross Value Added (GVA), supporting 15,000 jobs and £0.8 billion GVA, and creating 2,300 direct on-airport jobs.
• Surface access: The highway impact assessment concluded that the largest traffic increases would be on roads nearest the airport, but none of the predicted future daily flows exceed the capacity of individual links, and no upgrades are necessary. Rail services would continue to operate within capacity, and passenger public transport mode share is anticipated to reach 54% by 2041.
• Air, ground, and surface access noise: The applicant proposes that the development would not result in significant adverse noise impacts, existing noise contour area limits are not forecast to be exceeded, and no further mitigation is required.
• Air quality: Negligible impacts are predicted at all receptors, including Hockerill Junction AQMA, and no significant effects on air quality are expected, so no further mitigation is considered necessary.
• Carbon emissions: Emissions associated with the proposed development are considered minor and in line with UK carbon budgets.

The report pack stated that the planning application commits to continuing to operate existing monitoring, control, and funding mechanisms, such as the Sustainable Transport Levy, Local Roads Network Fund, Local Bus Network Development Fund, Sound Insulation Grant Scheme, Community Trust Fund, Stansted Airport College, the Aerozone facility, the Airport Academy, and the Annual Meet the Buyers event.

The panel was asked to consider whether, if the ongoing review of the planning application and engagement of other agencies finds that the methodologies, findings, and conclusions of the applicant's technical assessments are robust, the County Council should respond to the planning application by:

• Welcoming the socio-economic and employment benefits, the containment of environmental impacts, confirmation that growth is consistent with UK carbon budgets, and the commitment to continue operating existing monitoring, control, and funding mechanisms.
• Expressing scepticism that the proposal would not generate more significant impacts on surface access networks, and requesting that Uttlesford District Council convene a surface access engagement event with the Airport and its surface access technical advisors, the highways authorities, Network Rail, and rail/bus/coach service providers.
• Requesting that Uttlesford District Council satisfy itself that the proposal would not potentially uplift throughput capability beyond 8mppa and in excess of 10 mppa, which would classify it as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project requiring a Development Consent Order from the Secretary of State.
• Expressing disappointment that the planning application does not take the opportunity to revisit schemes already in operation at the Airport and merely commits to maintaining the status quo, and urging the applicant to review the package of community benefits they are proposing.

Modern Industrial Strategy Response

The panel was scheduled to be informed that Hertfordshire Futures had drafted an initial response to the government's Industrial Strategy.

The report pack noted that the response follows on from Hertfordshire Futures' earlier response to the Invest 2035 consultation in November 2024. The new industrial strategy has firmly established the eight sectors that will be the government's priority but it places much greater emphasis on City Regions/Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCA), risking areas such as Hertfordshire being left behind, and there are some key omissions in relation to Hertfordshire.

The panel was scheduled to note Hertfordshire Futures' intention to seek views from a wide range of stakeholders on the Industrial Strategy and, subject to those views, to submit a response to the government by the deadline of 30 August 2025.

The report pack included a synopsis of the modern industrial strategy and an initial response from Hertfordshire Futures, which stated that while they were encouraged by the strategy's efforts to boost trade and investment, improve access to finance, and simplify regulation and planning, and welcomed its publication, they also believed that:

• While the focus on city regions and Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) is important, the strategy completely overlooks other areas such as Hertfordshire which are fundamental to UK growth.
• There are major factual corrections and omissions relating to Hertfordshire's significant economic contribution, particularly in relation to its global assets in film and TV; life sciences (cell and gene); advanced manufacturing and defence.
• Construction should be prioritised as a high-growth sector given its critical role in delivering the 1.5 million homes require over the next four years, and Hertfordshire has real strengths in this area with a number of large construction firms and BRE located there.
• The Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor is a major spatial priority in the Industrial Strategy, and London is also mentioned frequently but there is no mention of the economic potential of the 'Golden Triangle' with Hertfordshire at its core, which is a huge, missed opportunity to unlock future growth over the next decade.
• The Industrial Strategy refers to 'foundational industries' but makes no mention at all of what might be described as the 'foundational economy' – the key services and activities that are critical to a well-functioning economy, and greater emphasis needs to be placed on this together with the wider interdependencies of skills developments, reducing economic inactivity and other barriers to economic growth.

Get Hertfordshire Working

The panel was scheduled to be informed of the progress made towards production of the Get Hertfordshire Working Plan.

The report pack noted that the Get Britain Working White Paper set out a requirement for local areas to develop their own local plan, with a priority focus on reducing economic inactivity and taking forward the Youth Guarantee. Further guidance indicated that the local Get Hertfordshire Working Plan should:

• Develop a whole system approach to tackling the supply and demand side challenges within local labour markets.
• Cover issues related to participation, progression, earnings and job quality in the labour market – but focusing especially on economic inactivity.
• Be reasonably flexible, in the context of two timescales: 12-24 months and a longer term (10-year) perspective, aligning with Local Growth Plan timescales.
• Be completed by July or September 2025.

The report pack stated that Hertfordshire Futures has been working with Job Centre Plus (JC+)/DWP, and Hertfordshire and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) as well as a wider stakeholder group to develop a Get Hertfordshire Working (GHW) Plan, with support from external consultants SQW Ltd.

The panel was scheduled to provide their early views on the report in order to feed into further work over the summer, ahead of the item being presented to the Cabinet Panel for sign off ahead of submission to DWP in September.

The report pack included a summary of the local labour market, which stated that:

• Overall, Hertfordshire has a high employment rate of 80.6%, which is close to the national target in the Get Britain Working White Paper.
• There are currently about 130,000 economically inactive people (aged 16-64) in Hertfordshire, of whom around 29% are students, 28% are 'looking after family/home', 17% are 'long term sick', 3% are 'temporary sick', and 10% are retired.
• Among those who are economically inactive, an estimated 15,000-25,000 individuals 'want a job' and might be able to work if various barriers are addressed, and identifying ways of appropriately supporting those 15,000-25,000 people will be a priority.
• Compared to elsewhere, Hertfordshire's challenges with inactivity are less acute, but issues around worklessness continue to be very problematic for many individuals and their families, many of those who are in work experience poverty because of the high cost of living locally, and employers struggle to recruit and retain staff in a very tight labour market.
• Since around 2018 the trend in the level of inactivity in Hertfordshire has broadly followed national patterns, and the number of long term sick peaked in 2023 at 36,900 (25% of total economically inactive in Hertfordshire).
• A DWP classification of local authority areas by labour market type suggests that across Hertfordshire, four districts are categorised as 'Affluent commuter belt', two as 'Representative agent' and one each as 'High growth centres', 'Traditional affluent', 'Semi-rural Britain' and 'Trade towns', pointing to the fact that there is variation across Hertfordshire.

The report pack stated that the proposed target cohorts facing specific labour market challenges include:

• Those with existing long-term conditions/disabilities who are at risk of falling out of work and yet could be supported to stay in work.
• Those who are inactive because of caring responsibilities, and as a proportion of those who are economically inactive, this group is bigger than in comparator areas.
• Those who are NEET, with the data suggesting a significant increase in the inactivity amongst those aged 20-24.
• Those who are economically inactive because of health issues yet they may not be on waiting lists.
• Those who cannot access employment because of transport issues, recognising that Hertfordshire's polycentric character has a particular bearing on access to work.
• Those in low pay employment, which is a particular issue in Hertfordshire because of the cost of living (particularly housing) locally.

The report pack stated that the preparation of the Get Hertfordshire Working plan has been divided into five strands:

• An early scoping phase, which is complete.
• An analysis of key evidence and data, which is underway, and a first draft of the evidence report has been completed.
• An exploration of 'areas of focus', which are defined as key touchpoints within the overall 'system' which links people to work or inactivity, and eleven areas of focus have been identified for further investigation during the summer.
• Working alongside Community Action Dacorum (CAD), which is completing a programme of research through the WorkWell programme (ICB funded), investigating provision across Hertfordshire.
• Based on the evidence gathering outlined above, identifying overarching priorities and both short term and longer-term interventions, which is expected to take place in September.

The report pack included an initial proposal template, which provided further details on the Get Hertfordshire Working plan, and confirmed that it had been discussed and agreed upon by all relevant upper-tier and unitary local authorities within the delivery area, as well as the representatives nominated to sign off the plans from the relevant Integrated Care Board(s) and Jobcentre Plus.