Hertfordshire council-owned property development company to be wound down
Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) is to wind down a company it set up to buy, develop and sell property.
Herts Living Ltd (HLL) was launched in 2017 in a bid to capitalise financially on the development potential of the council’s own surplus land.
Since then it has delivered 300 homes across 12 sites, either independently or in partnership with another company.
But according to HCC draft budget proposals for 2026-2027 being discussed this week, the company has been “unable to fully meet its delivery ambitions” - and the decision has been taken to “carry out a managed closure”.
The decision was taken by the council’s cabinet in private last June, in a part of the meeting where public and press were excluded. It is highlighted in the budget proposals that are due to be presented to a meeting of the council’s cabinet on Wednesday (January 14).
A spokesperson for HCC said: “Cabinet has approved the wind-down and eventual closure of the council-owned property company Herts Living Ltd (HLL).
“While the financial returns from HLL are similar to disposing of surplus property assets via the open market, they are sensitive to market volatility which, combined with a number of other economic, legislative and operational pressures, led to the decision to withdraw from development activity.
“We thank everyone involved with HLL for their work and will work closely with them and other partners to carefully manage the wind-down of the company to ensure existing commitments are met.”
HLL was primarily created to deliver the council’s joint venture (JV) housing development vehicle, Chalkdene. In 2019 it was agreed that the company could also bring forward small sites for independent development and sale.
Of the 300 homes developed, 52 were delivered solely by HLL and the remainder as part of the Chalkdene JV.
“Despite these achievements, HLL has been unable to fully meet its delivery ambitions due to various legislative, commercial and financial factors,” says the report.
“Whilst the county council has supported HLL to address these issues, like all local authorities [it] continues to face significant financial challenges itself.
“Consequently, a strategic review was undertaken to assess the impact of these challenges and determine the balance of risk and reward to the county council of maintaining versus winding down the company.
“In June 2025, cabinet considered a report on HLL’s future strategic direction and approved the decision to commence the wind-down of HLL’s activities, with the aim of carrying out a managed closure of the company.”
The document says that as part of HCC’s investment, loans were made to HLL by the council on a commercial basis. These enabled the company to buy surplus land from the council and to fund development that would result in a capital receipt to the council. Repayment of the loans occurred as proceeds from developments were realised.
No new loans will be made to the company, but existing commitments - yet to be drawn down – are expected to be met.
If backed by the council’s cabinet on Wednesday January 14, the draft budget proposals will then be scrutinised in a series of meetings before being put to a meeting of the full council on February 17.