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On Sunday, people across the borough took time to remember. In Cheshunt, Hoddesdon, Goffs Oak and Broxbourne, residents joined local Royal British Legion parades and wreath-laying ceremonies. Waltham Cross Library marked the occasion in its own way, with a book display exploring how war shapes lives long after the fighting ends.

Also this week, Broxbourne has put more than £1m towards social rented homes in Waltham Cross and Hoddesdon. We look at which streets are affected by new rules on shared houses, explain what has changed about who decides planning applications, and share a survey on a proposed public transport route linking Hertford and Harlow.

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🍽️ Real conversations, shared over a local table

Broxtown Supper Club: Women at the Table is for women who feel left off the invitation list or are busy building businesses in isolation.

Over dinner, local women will talk honestly about life and business - what has actually worked for them. There's no stage, no sales pitch and nothing is recorded.

It's a small table of just 10 seats at MYSA Restaurant in Hoddesdon on Tuesday 8 December 2026, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Your £10 ticket holds your seat and covers organising the evening, and you pay for your own food and drinks on the night. It's open to women aged 30 and over who live or work in Broxbourne and subscribe to Broxtown. Bringing a friend? Yes, but she'll need her own ticket.

Book tickets →

🏛️ HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

128 more specialist SEND places approved, including 24 in Ware

Children with special educational needs and disabilities will have up to 128 more specialist places across Hertfordshire after the county's Cabinet approved the plans on Wednesday 4 November. More than £7m will create 88 places in four new units inside mainstream schools, including 24 at Ralph Sadleir School in Ware, with over £3m more for a 40-place satellite of Colnbrook Special School at Woodhall Primary School. None of the sites is in Broxbourne and no opening dates have been given yet, but Morgans Primary in Hertford opened its own unit this term and says pupils have settled in well.

Trackless trams from Hertford to Harlow: tell the county what would make you use them

Hertfordshire County Council wants your views on HERT, a proposed east to west rapid transit route linking Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Hatfield, Hertford and Harlow, with a branch from Croxley through Watford to St Albans. The draft strategy favours zero-emission, battery-powered trackless trams that run on existing roads, and the survey asks where hubs should go and which facilities matter most, from bus and train connections to park and ride. Broxbourne is not on the route, so this is your chance to say what links would make it useful for your journeys, by Friday 4 December 2026.

Read more → · Submit your comments →

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COMMUNITY UPDATES

Broxbourne comes together to mark Remembrance Sunday

Residents gathered across the borough on Sunday 8 November to honour those who served and remember those who lost their lives in conflict. Broxbourne MP Lewis Cocking, local councillors, police and representatives of the Hertfordshire Lieutenancy joined Royal British Legion parades and wreath-laying in Cheshunt, Hoddesdon, Goffs Oak and Broxbourne, and the Legion's Cheshunt branch thanked everyone who organised, marched or came to pay their respects. If you missed it, Waltham Cross Library's display of fiction, poetry and first-hand accounts of war is a quiet way to reflect with your children this week.

Renting Housing Crisis GIF by All Better

Gif by AllBetter on Giphy

Eighteen homes at social rent, the most affordable kind, are a step closer after Broxbourne's Cabinet approved £1.066m of developer contributions for housing association B3Living on Tuesday 3 November. Of that, £854,000 goes to 14 homes on two former garage and bungalow sites at Longcroft Drive in Waltham Cross, including five three-bedroom houses, and £212,000 will turn two units at Brewery Road in Hoddesdon, empty since 2021, into four wheelchair-accessible one-bedroom flats for people over 55. Both schemes still need planning permission, with applications due by December, and the homes will be let through the council's housing register, which had 1,062 applicants in September.

This home is geothermal, super efficient, and modern. It is also available to book on Airbnb in the Salt Lake City area.

Photo by Brian Babb on Unsplash

If you live on one of a handful of Broxbourne streets, a neighbour can no longer convert a family house into a shared home for three to six people without planning permission. Cabinet agreed on Tuesday 3 November that the rule applies straight away on mapped parts of Greenwood Avenue, Greenwood Close and Lilac Close in Bury Green, while a second set covering Stoneleigh Close and part of Ruthven Avenue in Waltham Cross, and the eastern end of Lammasmead in Wormley, will take effect after 12 months once confirmed. Homes inside the mapped areas will get a notice, and the council's maps show exactly which properties are covered.

Who decides your local planning application? The rules have changed

Photo by Daniel McCullough on Unsplash

Under national rules in force since Saturday 31 October, planning officers must decide some types of application, and a case only goes to the Planning and Regulatory Committee if a nominated councillor and a nominated officer jointly agree it should. Full Council adopted the new scheme on Tuesday 27 October, which also bans anyone, councillors included, from lobbying those nominees, so asking your ward councillor to intervene no longer sends a case to committee. You can still comment on any application, and you can send the council your questions about the changes until Tuesday 1 December 2026.

Submit your questions →

Cheshunt FC deal moves forward, with a promise on parking

Plans to fund a better stadium, pitch and facilities at Cheshunt FC moved forward on Tuesday 3 November, when Cabinet agreed the outline terms of a deal that would see part of the club's site sold for housing. Any lease must provide extra parking at no cost to the council or residents if crowds grow significantly. Nothing is signed yet: a further report must come back to Cabinet before a formal agreement is made.

Good news for walkers and birdwatchers: the council leader told Full Council on Tuesday 27 October that Thames Water has confirmed it will not withdraw from Rye House Nature Reserve. Talks about how the reserve is managed in future are still going on. The same week, Cabinet backed a bid for a Green Flag award for Grundy Park in Cheshunt.

Your favourite local business could be Broxbourne's best, and it only takes your nomination

Broxbourne MP Lewis Cocking has opened nominations for his Best Small Business Competition, now in its third year, to celebrate the area's most-loved small and independent businesses. The winner is simply the business with the most nominations from residents, so your café, barber, plumber or corner shop is only as strong as the backing it gets. Nominations close on Friday 27 November 2026, so put your favourite forward and share it with friends and family.

NOMINATION LINK

Pop! launches a new business networking group in Hoddesdon

Local business owners and professionals came together in Hoddesdon for the launch of Pop!, a new networking group. The next meeting is on Friday 4 December 2026, and organisers are particularly keen to hear from financial advisers, virtual assistants, plumbers, electricians, estate agents and people working in business printing, health and safety, or search engine optimisation (SEO). If you'd like to go, reply to this newsletter and we'll point you towards the organisers.

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📅 UPCOMING EVENTS

🏡 Local & in-person

🎭 BArts Forum Film Classics: Sense and Sensibility

📍 The Spotlight, High Street, Hoddesdon
🗓️ TODAY, Tuesday 10 November 2026
💷 See booking for prices
👉 Details / Book

🎵 BArts Let’s Do Lunch: Crossing the Pond

📍 The Spotlight, High Street, Hoddesdon
🗓️ TOMORROW, Wednesday 11 November 2026
💷 See booking for prices
👉 Details / Book

🎵 Buddy Holly and the Cricketers

📍 The Spotlight, High Street, Hoddesdon
🗓️ TOMORROW, Wednesday 11 November 2026
💷 See booking for prices
👉 Details / Book

🏃 Free Calisthenics Sessions

📍 Waltham Cross Playing Fields, Waltham Cross
🗓️ TOMORROW, Wednesday 11 November, and Wednesday 18 November 2026
🎟️ Free entry
👉 Details / Book

🎵 Luther Live and Velvet Voices

📍 The Spotlight, High Street, Hoddesdon
🗓️ THIS THURSDAY, Thursday 12 November 2026
💷 See booking for prices
👉 Details / Book

🏀 Free Basketball Camp

📍 Waltham Cross Playing Fields, Waltham Cross
🗓️ THIS SATURDAY, Saturday 14 November 2026
🎟️ Free entry
👉 Details / Book

🏃 Free Holdbrook Multi-Sports Sessions (ages 11 to 18)

📍 Holdbrook, Waltham Cross
🗓️ THIS MONDAY, Monday 16 November 2026
🎟️ Free entry
👉 Details / Book

🎭 Hoddesdon Players present Quartet by Ronald Harwood

📍 The Spotlight, High Street, Hoddesdon
🗓️ Thursday 19 to Saturday 21 November 2026
💷 See booking for prices
👉 Details / Book

👩 Broxtown Supper Club: Women at the Table

📍 MYSA Restaurant, 76 High Street, Hoddesdon
🗓️ Tuesday 8 December 2026
⏰ 6:30pm to 8:30pm
💷 £10 ticket. Food and drinks paid for on the night.
👉 Details / Book

💼 Business & enterprise

💼 The Science of Storytelling in the Age of AI, with Kevin Chesters

📍 Theobalds Enterprise Centre, Cheshunt
🗓️ THIS THURSDAY, Thursday 12 November 2026
⏰ 1pm start
🎟️ Free entry
👉 Details / Book

💼 Townstead AI Clinic: What can AI agents do for your business?

📍 Theobalds Enterprise Centre, Platinum Way, Cheshunt EN8 8YD
🗓️ Tuesday 17 November 2026
⏰ 10am to noon
🎟️ Free entry. Eight places for Broxbourne business owners and managers who subscribe to Broxtown.
👉 Details / Book

📍 Ambition Broxbourne (see booking page for venue)
🗓️ Wednesday 18 November 2026
⏰ 9:30am start
🎟️ Free entry
👉 Details / Book

💼 Community Alliance Funding Fair 2026: Help and Funding All in One Place

📍 Nigel Copping Community Building, Hoddesdon
🗓️ Wednesday 18 November 2026
⏰ 2pm start
🎟️ Free entry
👉 Details / Book

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HEALTH & WELLBEING TIPS

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Get your free flu jab now, before the busy weeks of Christmas. The NHS says it's best to have it as soon as you can, because it can take up to 14 days to start protecting you. It's free if you're 65 or over (or turning 65 by 31 March 2027), pregnant, a main carer, or aged 18 to 64 with certain long-term conditions such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease. You can book through the NHS App or website, at a local pharmacy or with your GP surgery, and if you're not sure whether you qualify, your pharmacist or surgery can tell you.

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🎨 TUESDAY MOTIVATION

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

Helen Keller

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Weather ☀ Tuesday - Monday

A mild, drizzly start to the week, with temperatures reaching 14°C on Wednesday. The weekend looks dry but colder, with Sunday’s low dropping to −1°C.

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Wishing you a fantastic rest of your day!

Cheers,
Editor-in-chief | Emeka Ogbonnaya

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Broxbourne Remembers, plus £1m for 18 Social Rented Homes