Hitchin

19°CLight drizzle

• Today: 23° / 12° · 58% rain
• Tomorrow: 22° / 17° · Patchy rain nearby

Source: WeatherAPI

Sunrise 06:29Sunset 19:25

12h 56m of daylight today

Next bank holiday: Christmas Day, Fri 25 Dec

Source: sunrise-sunset.org · gov.uk

16US AQI · Good

Main pollutant: fine particles (PM2.5)

Source: WAQI · Enfield - Bowes Primary School, United Kingdom

202 reported · July 2026▲ 4% YoY

• Anti-social behaviour59
• Violence & sexual offences57
• Shoplifting20
• Public order16

3 stop & searches · mostly controlled drugs

Neighbourhood team: Hitchin Urban · Hertfordshire

Source: data.police.uk (within ~1 mile)

200 reported road collisions (2024)

44 killed or seriously injured · 281 casualties · 15 collisions per 10,000 residents

Source: DfT reported road collisions (STATS19)

315 food businesses within 2 miles

• 257 rated 4–5 ★ (208 top)
• 6 rated 0–2 (poor)

Source: Food Standards Agency

• Nearest station: Hitchin (1.6 km)
• 39 bus stops within ~½ mile

Source: OpenStreetMap, National Rail

£422,616 average▲ 7.8% YoY

Across North Hertfordshire · to 2026-06

Source: UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry)

£1,429 average monthly rent▲ 5% YoY

• 1 bed £1,020
• 2 bed £1,279
• 3 bed £1,569

Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents · to 2026-07

10.0× house price to earnings

A typical home costs 10.0 times median annual pay (9.9× for cheaper homes vs lower pay).

Source: ONS house price to workplace earnings ratio · 2025

• Cheapest petrol: 159.9p · Esso (5.4 km)
• Cheapest diesel: 185.7p · Asda (8.1 km)

12 stations within ~8 miles

Source: CMA fuel price scheme

38 charging locations within ~8 km

• 8 with rapid charging (50 kW+)
• Fastest nearby: 175 kW
• Nearest: Lairaige Multi Storey Carpark (0.2 km)

Source: Open Charge Map

• Sports centres4
• Swimming pools13
• Sports pitches56
• Playgrounds8

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

133,210 residents in North Hertfordshire · 355/km²

• Under 16: 19%
• 16–64: 61%
• 65+: 19%

Source: ONS Census 2021 (local authority)

Among the least deprived areas in England

Ranked 269 of 317 English local authorities (1 = most deprived)

Source: English Indices of Deprivation 2019

£2,449 a year · Band D, 2026-27

Most homes here are Band C (34% of 60,040)

Source: VOA council-tax stock · MHCLG band levels 2026-27

69 schools · 19,871 pupils

53 primary · 6 secondary · 10 other

Ofsted: 26 of 30 graded schools rated Good or Outstanding (87%)

65inspected under Ofsted’s 2024+ framework (graded by area, no single overall grade)

Source: DfE Get Information about Schools · Ofsted · North Hertfordshire

1,172 CQC-registered services

• Care homes257
• GP practices170
• Dentists295
• Homecare agencies329
• Hospitals & hospices34

CQC ratings: 86% of rated services Good or Outstanding · 7 Inadequate

Source: Care Quality Commission · Hertfordshire

• Not in the Green Belt
• 198 listed buildings within ~1.5 km

Source: planning.data.gov.uk (England)

255 applications decided

88.6% granted · 226 granted, 29 refused

Source: MHCLG planning statistics (PS2) · 2026 Q1

Alistair Strathern

Labour

Hitchin

Source: UK Parliament

Labour (minority)

• Lab 23
• Con 7
• LD 20
• Oth 1

Source: Open Council Data UK (CC BY-SA)

• Schools12
• GPs & clinics2
• Pharmacies4
• Supermarkets4
• Parks & greens19
• Restaurants & cafés61

Source: OpenStreetMap (within ~1 mile)

6,995 active business enterprises in the area

Source: ONS UK Business Counts (2025)

722 jobs advertised · £37,378 avg

e.g. Nursery Practitioner Level 3, Mobile Mechanic, Mobile Vehicle Technician - Stevenage

Source: Adzuna

£983 median full-time weekly pay

2.4% of residents aged 16–64 claim unemployment-related benefits

£31,048 disposable income per head (2024)

Source: ONS / Nomis (claimant count · ASHE) · ONS regional GDHI

49% of homes rated EPC C or above

Most common band: C · 66,549 certificates

8.5% of households were in fuel poverty (2023)

Source: MHCLG EPC statistics · DESNZ sub-regional fuel poverty

89% low-carbon electricity

Wind 55% · Nuclear 18% · Gas 10% · Biomass 10%

50 gCO₂/kWh · low intensity

Latest estimate for East England · National Grid ESO

Life expectancy: 84 yrs women · 80.2 yrs men

66% of adults overweight or obese

Source: OHID Fingertips · 2025

• Life satisfaction7.6
• Feeling worthwhile7.8
• Happiness yesterday7.6
• Anxiety yesterday (lower is better)3.4

Average rating out of 10 · ONS personal well-being 2022-23

Open UK Parliament petitions most signed in Hitchin:

• Remove sentence reductions for guilty pleas in controlling and coercive cases474 local signatures · 104,741 nationwide
• Make a public animal abuser register & automatically ban ownership416 local signatures · 242,705 nationwide
• Review the evidence and fund the addition of SMA to the Newborn Screening Test386 local signatures · 151,287 nationwide
• Do not ban social media for under 16s328 local signatures · 217,501 nationwide
• Hold a referendum to bring the water industry into public ownership319 local signatures · 163,883 nationwide

Source: petition.parliament.uk · as of 2026-08-06

• 
  Hitchin Museum and Art Gallery · 0.3 km

  The Hitchin Museum and Art Gallery was a local history museum in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England, with an extensive collection that told the story of the town’s social history and of the rural industries that contribu…

• 
  Hitchin · 0.3 km

  Hitchin is a market town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hil…

• 
  North Hertfordshire Museum · 0.3 km

  North Hertfordshire Museum is a museum that displays collections relating to local history and heritage. It is located adjacent to the refurbished Hitchin Town Hall on Brand Street, Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

• 
  Butts Close · 0.3 km

  Butts Close is an 11-acre (45,000 m2) park in the town of Hitchin, Hertfordshire that used to once be a sporting ground for archery. Claimed to be the oldest open space in Hitchin, the name refers to the archery butts…

• Hitchin Rural District · 0.4 km

  Hitchin Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the north of the county.

• 
  Hitchin (constituency) · 0.4 km

  Hitchin was a parliamentary constituency in Hertfordshire which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until it was abolished for the 1983 gene…

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA)