General Information

What next for localism?

Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies – Document Retention

Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) is the county record office and local studies library for the historic county of Hertfordshire and forms part of the Heritage Services department of Hertfordshire County Council. Holdings include collections of local, national and international significance and because its oldest document dates from 1060, it can proudly claim to care and provide access to nearly 1000 years of Hertfordshire history. HALS is Accredited by the National Archives as a Place of Deposit for public, manorial and tithe records and also by the Diocese of St Albans as the Place of Deposit for parish and diocesan records. It is unsurprising then that Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) is the designated place of deposit for Hertfordshire Parish, Town and Community Councils who have records which have ceased to be of current use but which need to be retained permanently.

Parish, Town and Community Councils with records ready to deposit at HALS should contact: hals.enquiries@hertfordshire.gov.uk to make an appointment to deposit. Depositing records (sometimes called ‘permanent loan’) means that ownership is retained by the council but that the documents will be held permanently at HALS in secure and environmentally stable conditions (there are over seven miles of archive shelving) and made available to researchers under supervision during advertised opening hours.

Records should be listed in advance (Excel or Word) so HALS can plan for required space and packaging and advise on queries. See ‘Records Management Policy’ and ‘Retention of Local Councils Documents and Records’ in the ‘Documents’ section of the HAPTC website for guidance on what to retain and transfer and what to dispose of.

For existing holdings, civil parish council records are catalogued under code CP with each Council then allocated a unique number. The sequence was initially formed alphabetically by council with some later additions at the end.

To search, go to www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/hals and then ‘Search the archive catalogue’. It is best to search for the name of the parish council then on the title record. This will allow you to browse the collection as a whole or focus on and individual parish.

Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) has been based in the Register Office Block at County Hall, Pegs Lane, Hertford, SG13 8EJ since 1939. It is currently open Tuesday – Thursday 0900 – 1700, Friday 0900 – 1230 and the 1^st and 3^rd Saturday of the month 1000 – 1400.

For more information, email hals.enquiries@hertfordshire.gov.uk, ring 0300 1234049 or see www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/hals.

Chris Bennett, County Archivist, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

Useful maps

Boundary Maps: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/
Parish Online: https://www.parish-online.co.uk/
Introduction/explanatory youtube video
Roadworks: https://roadworks.org/
Inspire: https://data.gov.uk/location/inspire includes maps such as Land Registry so you can tell whether a piece of land is registered.
https://magic.defra.gov.uk/ map layers such as Woodland Grants to special Habitats

Creating our own maps

Points of local interest: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zviMluvIBdb0.kEg_E4V6C5oE
Mapping responses from post codes: https://batchgeo.com/map/95df5c671c66a5a070675d7672ce6fa0

Village Halls and Community Buildings
CDAHerts Village Halls and Community Buildings Safeguarding
CDAHerts Village Halls and GDPR
CDAHerts Village Halls and Community Buildings Webpage
ACRE – Action with Communities in Rural England

Hertfordshire County Council

Registrations, births, deaths, marriages, citizenship

Adult Social Care

Blue badges

Bus Passes

Free School Meals

School term dates

School Admissions

Employment opportunities

Benefits advice

Libraries

Herts Good Care Guide

Public Health eNews

To sign up to receive the newsletter directly to your inbox every month, please email phnews@hertfordshire.gov.uk .

Highways

Avoiding Danger When Working Near Underground Services (PDF, 1.4 Mb)
This guidance is aimed at all those involved in commissioning, planning, managing and carrying out work on or near underground services. It will also be of use to the owners and operators of such services.

It outlines the potential dangers of working near underground services and gives advice on how to reduce any direct risks to people’s health and safety, as well as the indirect risks arising through damage to services.

It explains the three basic elements of a safe system of work during excavation:

• Planning the work
• Locating and identifying buried services
• Safe excavation
• Hertfordshire Higways Together Risk Assessment Presentation (PowerPoint Presentation, 7 Mb)

Why and How to carry out Risk Assessment for Highways Projects

Hertfordshire Highways Together Risk Assessment (MS Word, 84 Kb)
All Parish or Town Councils must conduct a risk assessment for the tasks undertaken under the project. Significant findings of the risk assessment should be recorded below and communicated to the volunteer workers.

Some general guidance to aid the risk assessment process by detailing a list of the common hazard and control considerations that are generally associated with the scope of activities included in the project can be found in the Hazard Information Sheet, the list is not exhaustive and should be reviewed against the site and then relevant information entered on to the form below.

Hertfordshire Highways Together Hazard Information (MS Word, 60 Kb)
All Parish and Town Councils are responsible for ensuring a risk assessment is completed for the tasks undertaken under the project. Significant findings from the risk assessment should be recorded and communicated to the volunteer workers.

This table outlines common hazards associated with the activity undertaken within the Highways together project and outlines some general control measures that are to be considered. The list is not exhaustive and should be reviewed against the site and specific project in order to identify all significant hazards associated with the individual project and to determine the most suitable level of control.

Highways fault reporting

Roadworks

Gritting