West Close Hitchin, North Hertfordshire

1 address across 1 postcode (SG4), about 50 m long, classed as a local road. USRN 27921350.

  • Flood: No address on its postcodes is in an area at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers, the sea or surface water.
  • Council tax: Most homes around it are in council tax band C; Band D in North Hertfordshire costs £2,449 a year in 2026-27.
  • Broadband: Gigabit broadband is available to 100% of premises.
  • Transport: The nearest railway station is Hitchin, about 770 m (0.5 miles) away in a straight line.
  • Green space: The nearest park or garden is about 510 m (0.3 miles) away.
  • Air: Background air pollution in 2024 was 9.7 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 7.9 of PM2.5, within UK legal limits.
  • Height: It is about 62 m above sea level.
  • Noise: 1 of its 1 addresses is modelled at 55 dB or more from road traffic.
  • Doctors: The nearest GP surgery is Regal Chambers Surgery, about 1.4 km (0.8 miles) away, with 3 practices within 1.6 km (1 mile).
  • People: About 310 people lived in the census areas around it in 2021; 53% of households owned their home and 52% of adults held a degree or other higher qualification.
  • Crime: 43 crimes were recorded within 250 m between September 2025 and August 2026, most often violence and sexual offences.

Sales on this street

Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, sales registered up to 28 August 2026, loaded 28 October 2026. Sales reach the register two weeks to two months after completion, so the last two months are incomplete. Matched by postcode and street name.

No sales recorded on this street since January 1995 under this street name.

Energy performance certificates

Source: Energy Performance of Buildings Register (MHCLG), register as at 1 November 2026. Latest certificate per address; certificates last ten years, so the oldest here and some homes have none. Address data © Ordnance Survey and Royal Mail, shown for understanding the energy efficiency of buildings only.

No certificates found for addresses on this street.

Council tax

What each band costs in North Hertfordshire in 2026-27: Band D £2,449 a year on average, including the police, fire and any county and parish charges.

ABCDEFGH
£1,632£1,904£2,176£2,449£2,993£3,537£4,081£4,897

Homes by band in the neighbourhood around this street: most are in band C (58% of about 740 homes).

Sources: Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties, homes at 31 March 2026 (counts rounded to the nearest 10; some small counts withheld), for the neighbourhood (census area of about 700 homes) around it, not just this street; Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, council tax levels 2026-27. Bands are charged as fixed shares of Band D; the actual bill depends on the parish and on discounts such as the single-person discount. Check a home's own band with the official council tax band checker.

Planning and heritage

  • Conservation area: no postcode centre in this street's postcodes is in one.
  • Listed buildings on or by this street: none.
  • Article 4 direction (removing permitted development rights): none recorded, though not every council has published theirs.
  • Tree preservation orders: none recorded, though not every council has published theirs.
  • Green belt: no.

Brownfield land registered for housing within 1 km (0.6 miles)

Source: planning.data.gov.uk (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), compiled from councils and, for listed buildings, Historic England's National Heritage List. Conservation areas, Article 4 directions, tree preservation areas and the green belt are checked at each postcode's centre. Listed buildings and protected trees are counted on or by this street. Councils publish Article 4 directions, tree preservation orders and brownfield registers to different standards, and some not yet. Planning applications are not here: there is no national open record of them yet.

Roadworks

No street works under way, planned or finished in the last three months on this street, in permits up to 31 October 2026.

Source: Department for Transport, Street Manager open data, permits and works up to 31 October 2026. It is published once a month, so works arranged or started since then are not shown, and dates are the ones planned unless the works have started or finished. Emergency works are often permitted after they begin.

Flood risk

No address in this street's postcodes is in an area at high, medium or low risk of flooding from rivers, the sea or surface water. The rest are in areas at very low risk: less than a 0.1% (1 in 1,000) chance a year.

Rivers and the sea alone: no home is in an area at risk.

High: 3.3% (1 in 30) or more chance of flooding a year. Medium: 1% to 3.3%. Low: 0.1% to 1%. Very low: under 0.1%. The rivers and sea figures allow for flood defences. Counts cover whole postcodes, which can include other streets.

Flood zone for planning: no postcode centre is in flood zone 2 or 3.

Sources: Environment Agency Flood risk: postcode search tool data (loaded 29 October 2026), Risk of Flooding from Rivers and Sea: postcodes in areas at risk (loaded 29 October 2026) and Flood Map for Planning (loaded 28 October 2026). Flood zones are checked at each postcode's centre point. These are models of areas, which their publishers say are not suitable for showing whether an individual property is at risk, and they do not cover flooding from sewers or drains. Check an address on the official long-term flood risk service.

© Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. All rights reserved. Some features are based on digital spatial data from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, © NERC (CEH); the postcode data is produced in part from PAF® and Multiple Residence Data, © Royal Mail Group Limited.

Height above sea level

The street's address is about 62 m above sea level.

Source: Ordnance Survey, OS Terrain 50, July 2026: the height of the ground on a 50 m grid, read at each address, in metres above Ordnance Datum (mean sea level at Newlyn). It is the lie of the land, not floor or threshold levels, and is accurate to a few metres. Being low-lying is not in itself a flood risk; the flood section above says what the flood maps show.

Broadband

Source: Ofcom Connected Nations, data as at January 2026. Percentages are of premises in each postcode that can get the service, not take-up or speed achieved.

Availability by postcode (% of premises)
PostcodeSuperfast (30 Mbit/s+)Ultrafast (300 Mbit/s+)GigabitBelow 10 Mbit/s
SG4 0RG100%100%100%0%

Getting around

Sources: Department for Transport, NaPTAN (every public transport stop), as at 31 October 2026; Office of Rail and Road, Estimates of station usage 2024–25 (which stations are on the National Rail network, and their journeys: entries and exits in the year to March); OurAirports (public domain, kept by volunteers); car parks and charging points from Overture Maps Foundation, release 2026-10-21.0, which gathers business listings from Meta, Microsoft, Foursquare and others: not an official register, so some will be missing, private or out of date. Distances are straight lines from the middle of the street, not routes, and say nothing about how often anything runs. Stations opened since the end of ORR's year appear when ORR publishes the next one, each December; heritage railways are left out.

NearestDistance
Railway stationsHitchin 2.9 million journeys in 2024–25770 m (0.5 miles)
Letchworth Garden City 1.8 million journeys in 2024–253.1 km (1.9 miles)
Baldock 569,000 journeys in 2024–256.2 km (3.8 miles)
Bus stops12 stops within 400 m (0.2 miles), 40 within 800 m (0.5 miles); nearest East Close Walsworth30 m
Bus or coach stationBus Station Stevenage7.5 km (4.6 miles)
Car parksLetchworth Town Hall Car Park2.9 km (1.8 miles)
EV charging pointsLairaige Multi storey Car Park GeniePoint1.8 km (1.1 miles)
Airport with scheduled flightsLondon Luton Airport LTN12.1 km (7.5 miles)

Local services

Sources: NHS Organisation Data Service, as at 31 October 2026: GP practices, community pharmacies and dental practices with an NHS contract, open now, each placed at the centre of its postcode; hospitals are NHS trust and Welsh health board sites named as hospitals, and may not have an emergency department. Police stations and cash machines from Overture Maps Foundation, release 2026-10-21.0, which gathers business listings: not an official register, so some will be missing or out of date. Distances are straight lines from the middle of the street. Nothing here says whether a practice is taking new patients or a dentist new NHS patients.

NearestDistance
GP surgeries3 practices within 1.6 km (1 mile); nearest Regal Chambers Surgery1.4 km (0.8 miles)
Pharmacies3 pharmacies within 1.6 km (1 mile); nearest Bancroft Pharmacy1.5 km (0.9 miles)
NHS dentists4 practices within 1.6 km (1 mile); nearest Mr N F Faryad1.3 km (0.8 miles)
HospitalThe Lister Hospital5.1 km (3.2 miles)
Police stationHitchin Police Station1.2 km (0.7 miles)
Cash machines1 machines within 800 m (0.5 miles); nearest Hitchin Station, Walsworth Road Cashzone770 m (0.5 miles)

Parks and green space

Source: Ordnance Survey, OS Open Greenspace, April 2026: public parks and gardens, play spaces, playing fields and allotments, with their entrances. Distances are straight lines from the middle of the street to a site's nearest entrance (or its edge where none is recorded), not walking routes; sizes are the area OS maps for each site. Some sites, such as school playing fields, may not be open to the public.

NearestDistance
Park or garden1 within 800 m (0.5 miles); nearest Unnamed 4.6 ha510 m (0.3 miles)
Play area3 within 800 m (0.5 miles); nearest Unnamed 2,550 m²220 m
Playing field3 within 800 m (0.5 miles); nearest Walsworth Common 9.1 ha180 m
AllotmentsUnnamed 4,700 m²880 m (0.5 miles)

Within 800 m (0.5 miles): 1 park or garden, 4.6 hectares in all.

Landmarks

The nearest historic landmark is Two bowl barrows 500m south of Fearnhill School, a scheduled monument, 1.6 km (1 mile) north-east. 3 listed buildings are within 1 km (0.6 miles).

Historic places
NameWhat it isFrom the middle of the street
Two bowl barrows 500m south of Fearnhill SchoolScheduled monument1.6 km (1 mile) north-east
Roman villa (site of) 330yds (300m) N of NinespringsScheduled monument1.7 km (1 mile) south-east
Broadway, LetchworthRegistered park or garden, Grade II2.6 km (1.6 miles) north-east
Natural landmarks within 5 km (3.1 miles)
NameWhat it isFrom the middle of the street
Windmill HillHill1.5 km (1 mile) south-west
Gerry's HoleLake or reservoir1.6 km (1 mile) north-west
Butt's Close PondLake or reservoir1.8 km (1.1 miles) south-west
Bearton PondLake or reservoir1.8 km (1.1 miles) west
The BeltWood1.8 km (1.1 miles) south-east
Ramerick BottomValley4.7 km (2.9 miles) north-west

Sources: Historic England's registers through planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG), and Cadw through DataMapWales (Welsh Government): World Heritage Sites within 10 km (6.2 miles), battlefields within 5 km (3.1 miles), registered parks and gardens within 3 km (1.9 miles), scheduled monuments within 2 km (1.2 miles), and Grade I and II* listed buildings within 1 km (0.6 miles). Ordnance Survey, OS Open Names, October 2026: named hills, valleys, lakes, woods, wetlands and coast (it has no rivers). Distances are in a straight line to the middle of each site, and being on a register does not mean there is public access.

Air quality

Source: Defra, modelled background air pollution, annual means for 2024, for the 1 km square that holds the middle of the street. These are background levels, away from the kerb: beside a busy road nitrogen dioxide in particular can be several times higher. UK limits are the legal annual limits for England and Wales; the World Health Organization's 2021 guidelines are much stricter, and most towns and cities are above them.

Annual means in µg/m³ (micrograms per cubic metre of air)
PollutantHereUK limitWHO guideline
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2)9.74010
Fine particles (PM2.5)7.9205
Particles (PM10)12.24015

All three are within the UK legal limits; PM2.5 is above the WHO guideline, as in most towns and cities.

Road and rail noise

Source: Defra, strategic noise mapping Round 4 (England), modelled for 2021 and published in December 2023, and its airport maps of the same round for the fifteen largest English airports, published in April 2026: Lden, the average sound level over a whole day with extra weight for the evening and night, on a 10 m grid, read at each address. These are models of traffic, not measurements; they leave out smaller airports and airfields, industry and neighbours, and a room at the back of a house is often much quieter than the front. The World Health Organization's guidelines are 53 dB for road traffic, 54 dB for railways and 45 dB for aircraft (below the lowest level shown here).

Addresses by modelled noise level (Lden, dB)
LevelRoad trafficRailways
55 to 5910
Under 5501

1 of the street's 1 addresses is modelled at 55 dB or more from road traffic, above the WHO guidelines.

Climate, daylight and earthquakes

Monthly temperatures and rainfall, sunrise and sunset through the year, and earthquakes recorded nearby since 1970 are much the same across the area, so they are worked out once for North Hertfordshire: see them on the North Hertfordshire page.

Nearest schools

Source: Get Information About Schools (Department for Education), 3 November 2026; Ofsted monthly management information as at September 2026. Distances are straight lines from the middle of the street to the school; catchments and admissions are not shown. Since November 2025 Ofsted gives report-card grades by area, not one overall grade; older grades stand until a school is re-inspected.

SchoolPhaseAgesDistanceInspection
Highover Primary SchoolPrimary4–11340 m No overall grade (Jan 2025, graded inspection without an overall judgement): Quality of education: Outstanding; Behaviour and attitudes: Outstanding; Personal development: Outstanding; Leadership and management: Outstanding
Purwell Primary SchoolPrimary3–111.1 km (0.7 miles) No overall grade (Sep 2024, graded inspection without an overall judgement): Quality of education: Good; Behaviour and attitudes: Good; Personal development: Good; Leadership and management: Good
St Andrew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, HitchinPrimary4–111.1 km (0.7 miles) Report card (Jul 2026): Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard; Achievement: Expected standard; Attendance and behaviour: Strong standard; Personal development and wellbeing: Strong standard; Inclusion: Expected standard; Leadership and governance: Expected standard; Early years: Strong standard; Safeguarding standards: Met
William Ransom Primary SchoolPrimary4–111.3 km (0.8 miles) No overall grade (Mar 2025, graded inspection without an overall judgement): Quality of education: Requires improvement; Behaviour and attitudes: Good; Personal development: Good; Leadership and management: Requires improvement
Our Lady Catholic Primary School Roman CatholicPrimary5–111.3 km (0.8 miles) Good (Jul 2022, overall grade under the previous framework)
Strathmore Infant and Nursery SchoolPrimary3–71.4 km (0.9 miles) No published inspection
York Road Nursery SchoolNursery2–51.4 km (0.9 miles) No published inspection
Hitchin Girls' SchoolSecondary11–181.5 km (0.9 miles) No overall grade (Oct 2024, graded inspection without an overall judgement): Quality of education: Outstanding; Behaviour and attitudes: Outstanding; Personal development: Outstanding; Leadership and management: Outstanding
Mary Exton Primary SchoolPrimary5–111.5 km (0.9 miles) Good (Sep 2022, overall grade under the previous framework)
The Highfield SchoolSecondary11–181.6 km (1 mile) Good (May 2023, overall grade under the previous framework)
Hitchin Boys' SchoolSecondary11–181.6 km (1 mile) Report card (Nov 2025): Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard; Achievement: Strong standard; Attendance and behaviour: Exceptional; Personal development and wellbeing: Exceptional; Inclusion: Exceptional; Leadership and governance: Exceptional; Post-16 provision: Strong standard; Safeguarding standards: Met
Wilshere-Dacre Junior AcademyPrimary7–111.6 km (1 mile) No published inspection

Food hygiene ratings nearby

Source: Food Standards Agency, Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, extract of 3 November 2026. Each rating is shown with the date it was given; a business may have been re-inspected since the extract. Within 500 m (0.3 miles) of the middle of the street.

BusinessTypeDistanceRatingRated
Nisa SG4 0AURetailers - other190 m2 Improvement necessary3 Jul 2026
Riverain Bowls Club SG4 0ATPub/bar/nightclub260 m5 Very good30 Jun 2026
Ashmi Corp UK ltd SG4 0APDistributors/Transporters360 mExempt
Highover JMI School SG4 0JPSchool/college/university400 m (0.2 miles)5 Very good6 Feb 2026
Buddies SG4 0JPHospitals/Childcare/Caring Premises400 m (0.2 miles)5 Very good5 Feb 2025
Golden Express Thai Takeaway SG4 0JNTakeaway/sandwich shop410 m (0.3 miles)5 Very good26 Feb 2025
Pizza Hut SG4 0JNTakeaway/sandwich shop410 m (0.3 miles)5 Very good14 Apr 2025
Cambridge Road Stores SG4 0JNRetailers - other410 m (0.3 miles)3 Generally satisfactory2 Sep 2025
SAMP CORP LIMITED SG4 0UBManufacturers/packers420 m (0.3 miles)4 Good4 Nov 2025
Days of Ashwell Ltd SG4 0JNRetailers - other430 m (0.3 miles)5 Very good7 Mar 2025
The Anchor pub SG4 0JHPub/bar/nightclub440 m (0.3 miles)5 Very good10 Nov 2025
Polcaro's Fish and chips SG4 0JHTakeaway/sandwich shop440 m (0.3 miles)Awaiting inspection
Sainsburys Supermarkets SG4 0JHRetailers - supermarkets/hypermarkets470 m (0.3 miles)5 Very good4 Nov 2025
The Millstream Public House SG4 0JHPub/bar/nightclub480 m (0.3 miles)5 Very good26 Feb 2026
Dolly Dimples Weddings & Events Hire SG4 0QUMobile caterer480 m (0.3 miles)5 Very good17 Mar 2025

Crime within 250 m

Source: data.police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026. Police forces move every crime to the nearest of about 760,000 anonymised map points before publishing, so these are crimes near this street, not on it, and a busy point can collect crimes from a wider area. Counts are of records, not convictions.

43 recorded crimes by category
CategoryCrimes
Violence and sexual offences15
Anti-social behaviour8
Drugs6
Vehicle crime4
Other theft3
Public order3
Shoplifting2
Other crime1
Burglary1

Most of these are attached to: On or near Sturgeon'S Way (9); On or near Orchard Road (8); On or near East Close (7); On or near Woolgrove Road (5); On or near Highover Way (5).

People and work

Source: ONS Census 2021, taken on 21 March 2021, for the Output Area (a small census area of about 125 households) that this street's postcodes are in: 305 residents in 134 households. The census was taken during a lockdown, so working from home is high and travel to work low compared with now. ONS swaps a few records between neighbouring areas and adds small amounts of noise to counts to protect privacy, so small differences mean little. Industry is not published for areas this small.

Who lives here

Around this streetEngland
Median age3740
Children under 1518%17%
Aged 65 and over10%18%

Homes

Around this streetEngland
Owned (outright or with a mortgage)53%61%
Owned outright19%33%
Shared ownership10%1%
Social rented12%17%
Private rented25%21%

Work and commuting

Around this streetEngland
Adults (16 and over) in work76%57%
Unemployment (of those working or looking for work)3%6%
Retired (of adults)12%22%
Long-term sick or disabled (of adults)2%4%
Work mainly from home (of those in work)43%32%
Travel to work by car or van40%48%
By train, Underground, metro or tram8%4%
By any public transport, including bus8%8%
On foot or by bicycle7%10%
Work within 10 km (6 miles) of home (of those who travel to work)56%65%
Work 30 km (19 miles) or more away21%8%

Education and languages

Around this streetEngland
Degree or other higher qualification, Level 4+ (of adults)52%34%
No qualifications12%18%
Apprenticeship as highest qualification4%5%
Main language English (aged 3 and over)96%91%
Cannot speak English well or at all1%2%

Deprivation

The neighbourhood around this street is in decile 8 of 10 on the English Indices of Deprivation 2025, where 1 is the most deprived tenth of England's 33,755 neighbourhoods and 10 the least.

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), by LSOA (about 1,500 people), through the ONS Postcode Directory. The index combines income, employment, health, education, crime, housing and living environment; it ranks areas against each other and does not describe any one household. Ranks in England and Wales are worked out separately and cannot be compared.

What has changed

Nothing new since the change feed started on 30 October 2026. New sales and energy certificates, and hygiene ratings, school inspections and flood figures nearby, will be listed here as the sources update.

Everything that has changed on and near this street

Postcodes on this street

Source: ONS Postcode Directory August 2026, ONS UPRN Directory September 2026, OS Open Linked Identifiers September 2026. A postcode can cover more than one street; the share shows how many of its addresses are on this one.

  • SG4 0RG: 1 address of 24 in the postcode

Nearby streets

East Close · Lawrence Close · Orchard Road · Tristram Road · Highover Way · St Faiths Close · Sturgeon's Way · High Dane · Armour Rise · Meadowbank · Chennells Close · Franklin Gardens

All the streets in SG4 and across North Hertfordshire.

What this page cannot tell you

  • Whether a particular house is at risk of flooding, subsiding or anything else: the flood map is a model of areas and there is no property-level data here.
  • What a home is worth now: sales are historic prices for the homes that happened to sell.
  • How safe the street is: crime points are moved to anonymised locations and many crimes are never reported.
  • Whether you would get a place at a school: distances are straight lines, not catchments.
  • Who lives on the street now: census figures describe the small areas around it in March 2021, during a lockdown.
  • How long a journey takes or how often anything runs: transport distances are straight lines to the nearest stops.
  • Whether a GP practice is taking new patients, or a dentist new NHS patients.
  • How loud a home is inside, or noise from industry, neighbours or smaller airfields: noise figures are models of road, rail and air traffic outside.

How each figure on this page is matched to the street and worked out: methodology.