Parking Patch

 One of the pressing current Fleetville issues concerns spaces for parking. No surprise there. Specifically, the area between Hatfield Road and Alban Way, and between Ashley Road and Sutton Road.  A little context might be helpful, although that certainly won't help to solve what has become a critical problem for many of that locality's residents; difficulty in finding a satisfactory place to park the family car.

What is, however, a certainty: the issue resulted from the way in which the development took place way beck in the early 1900s.  When the first tranche of Beaumont Farm acres was sold in 1899 the field on the western edge of the farm and the then limit of building in the rural district, was known as Rats' Castle Field.  Apart from a little shop (Primrose Cottage), which replaced an early turnpike toll house, the turn of the century was marked by an empty field, bounded by an empty Hatfield Road, a modest little railway, and a pair of occupation trackways both owned by the farm – now Ashley Road and Sutton Road.

The closing years of Co-operative milk bottling in Burleigh Road.

Stanton's specialised in log fuel for domestic fires.
COURTESY THE KENDALL COLLECTION

         

The first road linking those tracks was Castle Road, named after the common name for the field which was in turn named after the general name for the thatched roofed toll house in which were said to live vermin.

The eastern end of Castle Road in the 1920s, showing the undeveloped Ashley Road.
COURTESY HERTFORDSHIRE ARCHIVES AND LOCAL STUDIES

Castle Road homes grew steadily until the First World War and were fully occupied by the early 1930s.  But there was an awkward strip between Castle Road and the railway line, part of which was developed by a useful trading yard for building materials, access to which was made possible by creating two roadways from Castle Road.  Both roadways were made profitable by building and renting houses.

It should be clarified that as a former part of Beaumonts Farm an unknown section of this development land had been used as a nursery for perhaps twenty years – in today's terms we would probably label it allotment gardens.

The site of the former RAOB and St John's long-standing "temporary" building fronting
Ashley Road, now newly constructed residential accommodation.

Most of the homes in the three roads were, and of course still are, terraced without garage spaces.  This was largely immaterial until the acquisition of cars was popularised.  But cars grew in size and one-car families occasionally grew to become two, or even three-car families! 

As far back as the 1930s there had been iterations of Town and Planning acts to bring order to urban developments in  towns large and small.  St Albans City Council had been determined to tidy up the east end of St Albans and remove the many workshops and factories which previously occupied large or small spaces amongst otherwise residential streets. The presumption was that factories which changed hands and were rebuilt needed planning consents which had not previously been required. It was a slow process.

So, the firms which began as W Halsey and W G Bennett, timber and building yards respectively, and which later became Pratt Ltd, PSR and Jewson, have now become residential enclaves, because that was what planning requires.

The Co-operative Bakery which had premises fronting Hatfield Road and Castle Road (as did the same firm's Dairy when the bakery moved) morphed into housing; hence the development known as Dairy Mews, which as long confused many people who recall another dairy development below.

Broken pavements, some of which had been created from heavy vehicles accessing the 
former Jewson site.  The far hedge hides the local railway line, now Alban Way.

Yellow lines remove parking opportunities in places.

Front garden parking precludes street parking in both Burleigh and Castle roads; passing
and blind bends also add to driving issues.

Residential development anticipated at an early stage on the former building yard site
adjacent to the former railway.  Residents' parking planned for each dwelling.

Co-operative Dairy had its main premises in Burleigh Road between 1930 and c1960, when it changed to more centralised acquisition of milk supplies and distribution.  Stanton's, the early wood log suppliers with premises on the border of Castle and Burleigh roads became residential when their yards converted.

Many of these firms included a mix of local and more distant employees, and for each yard or factory which closed more houses were added to the locality and more overnight car parking was added to the lines of vehicles along the kerb lines.  Kerbside parking is of course not possible wherever homes which have replaced former commercial premises offer off-street car parking with direct access to the road space.

With an increasingly congested Hatfield Road has slowly developed an increase in short-cutting by using Castle Road.  This may prove to increase congestion at Hatfield Road's junctions with Ashley Road and Sutton Road and additional difficulties for passing vehicles along parts of Castle Road itself.  These flows will continue to exacerbate road life within this now almost exclusively residential enclave.