Land for Sale?

 Regular readers of this blog always recognise when daily life becomes extra busy for its author.  And here we are within six days of the end of the month and no new blogs have appeared.  However, hopefully time will be made up with two before the end of day 30.

First up, a thought or two about a key section of the draft District Plan.  It's the question of additional housing, of course; such is the perennial issue which has been much discussed at least as far back as the end of World War Two!  For the first three decades the City Council used its collective magnifying glass in the earth for suitable blocks of land, large or small, which lay inside its boundary.  During the same period the Rural District Council found itself in a similar position, with a dire need for new rural housing.  The city's major constraint was the joint boundary between the two authorities; the principle constraint of the Rural District was the dominant straight-jacket of the Metropolitan Green Belt.

With the re-allocation of boundaries and the absorption of rural authorities into their neighbouring urban, town and city counterparts, the City Council bore the brunt of land searches for building on its own.  Since when the focus as been on re-use of previously developed land rather than prime green space.

The end for Butterwick farm came with demolition of the homestead, as the gravel which lay below was far more valuable.

It is probably not surprising that a sizeable chunk of previously used land (for gravel workings) remains dormant: the previously ancient manorial farm of Butterwick, which was first "interfered with" when the Hatfield & St Albans Railway Company first drove its path between the two towns in the 19th century and thus split the farm into two, leaving a rump between the railway and the Hatfield road;  the main acreage being swallowed for post-war rebuilding.  But it wasn't only Butterwick which was affected; its neighbour was Smallford Farm, adjacent to Colney Heath Lane.  

The delightful Smallford farm homestead.

At intervals came applications to extend the gravel workings nearer to existing homes in the vicinity of Colney Heath Lane; or applications to develop land for housing which would front onto the lane.  Which brings us to a recent push onto land "north of Boissy Close".  Now, if you walk along the short Close you will discover a gated end, so why would you not extend the housing?  Except, of course it is the gateway to an expansive open landscape which people frequently enjoy, and equally accept the greater landscape had been proposed for a small football stadium with parking, and more recently for a solar farm. No doubt other proposals too.

A small collection of homes off Colney Heath Lane at Bossy Close.  There was nothing to prevent the building of more homes beyond this gate, it appeared.  But that is not the same as the current planning potential for the land beyond.  Discussions continue.

Of course, there is plenty of finger-wagging because no-one appears to fully understand just what material had been dumped when the gravel pits were filled in.  Suffice it to say, the land is large enough to attract attention "because it is there".

Another much smaller block of land on the northern side of the former railway and accessed from Hatfield Road currently belongs to Glinwell Salads.  The main site at Smallford roundabout was first developed by Nielsons, a market gardening enterprise which moved from the upper Lea Valley, driven out by Victorian and Edward North London housing; this is the block now occupied by Glinwell Salads.  Whereas Nielson occupied the land sensibly and with a good margin all round, Glinwell's rebuilt glasshouses and have maxed out the site fairly effectively.  And as it still required more growing space a few years ago it acquired the land next door which had lain dormant since being vacated by Ballito Hosiery Mill's Sports Ground.

Behind the former fence at the old Ballito sports ground remained the  sign board until recent years.  
The sign board is believed to remain in the custody of St Albans Museums.

Quite who placed the concrete blocks in front of the turn in is unknown.  But possibly the council
felt the new green fencing was too temporary and may even have been to prevent unauthorised
work from taking place.

Aha, more glasshouses perhaps.  Through a part of the newly acquired site flows Smallford Brook, the southern extension of Boggy Mead Spring on the north side of Hatfield Road.  Early work soon after acquisition began on adjusting the stream course to maximise the ground available for growing. But if you are a regular traveller along Hatfield Road you will have observed its boundary fence has remained temporary and visibility from beyond the site is limited by a green screen mesh, quite unlike the permanent fencing further east.  More to the point, no further work appears to have taken place.  Is this the land which the company may wish to relinquish?  Twenty hectares are mentioned in the District Plan.  We wonder what will happen next.