Growing Around Us and From Within

 A regular pedestrian in the 1860s completed her visit to St Albans market and began her return home.  She left behind new houses along Hatfield Road and reached the works taking place on the outskirts for the new railway. Passing the fete field, now part of Clarence Park, the next two buildings were the little turnpike toll house at what is now The Crown and St Peter's Farm, and in the far distance the Rats' Castle toll house.  Nothing but fields were passed by our pedestrian carrying her market purchases.  And nothing more until The Horseshoes (Smallford), although a peep through the trees would have revealed Oaklands Mansion.  Built up St Albans had not even reached Lemsford Road.

The turnpike toll house at the entrance to Colney Heath Lane, fully a mile from the housing limit
when the railway arrived in the 1860s.  Only two further toll houses and a farm were closer along
Hatfield Roads at that date.
COURTESY ST ALBANS MUSEUMS

One hundred and sixty years later hardly a field remains before we become enclosed by the homes of Ellenbrook and the hum of Hatfield.  In the intervening period roads, estates and districts have sprung up to plant homes in the fields, and many of us now live our lives in these once new developments.  At every turn house builders have been led by demand, in some cases jobs brought newcomers to the expanding city; in others grown-up children wished to remain in St Albans in homes of their own to bring up their own families.

Since the Second World War the majority of workshops and factories have been replaced by 
residential properties, both houses and flats.  The former dairy in Burleigh Road.

Local authorities have been set targets by governments for the numbers of new homes published in their latest district plans or local plans.  There was a time when we were largely unaware of expansion plans until workers appeared on site.  Today there are four huge controversies linked to every potential development, even for groups of perhaps five or six dwellings.  The first has been with us since the early post-war period: the Metropolitan Green Belt, land which is now under severe stress from development.  Secondly, the housing targets themselves. Authorities are often constrained from making effective representations against proposals by developers if they genuinely feel land should be protected.  And there are two reasons for this: any development ensures the council is nearer to meeting its government target; and the fear of a developer appealing to government above the council's head and therefore incurring some cost to the authority.

Thirdly, as existing residents, we all feel more empowered today to press our point of view and many of us "within the castle" as it were, wish to protect the view or space around us.  Many of us feel a need, perhaps a right, to retain an open view from our own windows, even if that right does not exist.

Finally, the more expansion is invited, the greater is the expectation that, through taxes, we will have to support infrastructure costs, whether it is for the road network, health and education facilities, retail, parking, leisure and open space.

A proposed development of 45 homes in Perham Way, London Colney, and intended to be marketed
as the Carriage Quarter.
COURTESY HERTS ADVERTISER

The London Colney site in Perham Way and close to the playing field of London Colney
Primary School.
COURTESY GOOGLE EARTH

Two recently announced proposals both affect London Colney.  The first is a development on County Council land and named the Carriage Quarter.  A forty-five mix of houses and flats on land next to London Colney Primary School playing field in Perham Road has been matched on the other side of the High Street by an already completed replacement and enlarged Summerfield Health Centre, located adjacent to the Caledon Community Centre and Library.  This is the smaller of the two developments affecting the village.

The proposed site of the New Settlement in Hertsmere is bounded in yellow.  London Colney is
centre left; Tyttenhanger village is top left; north-west of the New Settlement is the 
Tyttenhanger Park estate and Willows lakes.
COURTESY HERTSMERE BOROUGH COUNCIL

The larger by a significant margin is proposed by next-door Hertsmere District Council but will have a considerable impact on London Colney and the village of Tyttenhanger.  Hertsmere's District Plan includes proposals for up to 12,000 new homes spread around the borough, but fully half of that number will be built in a single development currently named The New Settlement.  Its growth will be in a number of phases up to 2050, but the first phase is intended to be complete by 2030.  Included are a number of primary schools, at least one secondary school and a number of other community facilities.  For this size of settlement infrastructure will be critical, especially as its spread is estimated to be twice that of London Colney.

Bringing into one place perhaps 25,000 more people – twice that number in the district as a whole – there will be significant impact on the road network, including M25, M1, A1, as well as St Albans Bypass (North Orbital) outside of the borough but very important to London Colney.  Three mainline rail stations are within the district but none conveniently close to the New Settlement, and of course London Colney has no rail link at all.  No doubt the New Settlement will be well planned but 25,000 people are 25,000 residents, so the proposed community will have to work well with as much attention given to London Colney and the southern and eastern districts of St Albans.

One final point.  One million pounds is a huge amount of money.  This is the current price of many homes on the market in St Albans; a result of the shortage of available homes and the city's frequent presence at the top of so many top ten lists.  And the million pounds headline is not just for large detached properties in so-called desirable districts.  As has been pointed out recently we are at the tipping point of reaching the million for a semi-detached house in quite ordinary suburban east end roads, and that threshold may already have been breached.  Next will come a million for a mid-terrace home.  Anywhere within a hundred or so metres of an OFSTED rated "outstanding" school has the effect of producing a bidding war the moment a homeowner decides it's time to move on.

Many a job has to be turned down as the price of living here is too great.

Such are these challenging times for moving house and deciding just where we all want (and can afford) to live and settle down.

Avoiding Hatfield Road

At times it can seem like a conundrum with no easy solution, but the question of avoiding driving along Hatfield Road, can be countered by the equally exasperating how to avoid Sandpit Lane, and even how to avoid the bypass.

When traffic flows smoothly on all three roads between Hatfield and St Albans there is no issue, and at least on two of the roads the resulting extended travelling times are, hopefully, temporary.

In Hatfield Road, readers may recall, a few months ago gas pipe replacement work was undertaken in St Albans Road West, between Smallford and Ellenbrook.  For the next two months similar work is to start between Smallford and Oaklands with the inevitable one-way working using temporary traffic signals.  This is a busy section at the best of times and two new permanent signal sets have been installed at Oaklands College (pedestrian controlled) and at Kingsbury Gardens.  The former is near the uncontrolled  junctions of  Colney Heath Lane and South Drive, but so far the interruption to flow has been minimal.  But in a foretaste of what is to come temporary signals in three phases arrived recently near Oakwood Drive and Longacres.  Standing traffic queued back as far as Smallford roundabout.

Junction improvements in Sandpit Lane.

So, if that is not to your liking you could try driving westwards via Sandpit Lane, but you are likely to be queuing soon after the House Lane roundabout.  The reason here is road surfacing, new junction, footpaths and roundabout at Oaklands Grange, near Barnfield Road.  Work has been ongoing for several months, and the recent difficulties have probably resulted from some drivers trying to avoid the Hatfield Road works – which are about to get even worse.

Of course, once clear of Newgates the next queue is at the Beechwood Avenue lights, where there seem to be more vehicles than usual turning left to return to Hatfield or Ashley roads, but no doubt a proportion of drivers continue west to find alternative routes nearer the city.  And I have noticed a small increase in cars and vans turning north into House Lane, no doubt heading for Marshalswick and the fiveways junction at the King William IV.

So, let's try the bypass.  You might join it at the Roe Green interchange and westwards you may have a fairly easy journey as far as London Colney's congested roundabout – though continuing further west to avoid the city you could join a long queue on the approach to Park Street.  

Normally, travelling eastwards takes time on approaching Roe Green, although we might be applying the brakes anywhere back to Sleapshyde Lane, but once this junction has been negotiated, on the green as it were, you are buoyed at the prospect of a swift journey through the tunnel, except that recently eastbound traffic has sometimes been stationary underneath the Galleria and very slow moving as it leaves the A1(M) on the approach to the former Jack Olding's junction.

I can find no obvious cause except for the usual "weight of traffic", but travelling between Hatfield and St Albans is presently fraught with problems and therefore expensive on fuel and time.  Best to leave a generous amount of time for your journey and stock up with some extra patience!

Just Dropping In

While in London recently I took the opportunity of calling in at the refreshed IWM London.  Not familiar with the name?  We all used to know it as the Imperial War Museum; IWM also has a new museum in Manchester.

Museums can be explored with a broad brush, of course, but if you have sufficient time, or simply come across some little detail you can come away feeling very satisfied.  One gallery, Secret War, is devoted to the undercover world of espionage and covert operations.  One display lists the locations of spies who were subsequently picked up during World War Two.  I didn't need to read through the entire list, as the names Tyttenhanger and London Colney stood out clearly from familiarity.  So, let's spell out the details of the event and then return to that information I had previously acquired.

Karel Richard Richter
German from Czechoslovakia
Landed by parachute at
Tyttenhanger Park
London Colney, 13 May 1941
Arrested at Tess Road police station
Hanged 10 December 1941

What, then, was the story?

We start with the police station in Tess Road.  The road is now Woodstock Road south, and the station, in a pair of former houses now demolished was on the site of the present nursery car park.  This was a base for Hertfordshire County Police (the city police station was in Victoria Street).

Now demolished Wireless Station in Smallford
COURTESY S AMES

A war reserve constable, Alec Scott who lived at Colney Street, had the regular duty of keeping guard outside the wireless station in Oaklands Lane, Smallford, now replaced by the Radio housing estate.  When cycling home from duty late one evening he came to London Colney roundabout.  A lorry driver asking which road would take him to London, from a stranger waiting to use a phone kiosk, became suspicious about the man's accent.

The roundabout was more of a square-about in those days, had no dual carriageway, or bypass around London Colney.  The phone box was immediately to the south of the roundabout, alongside High Street.

The stranger had been dropped on the previous day and had hidden in woodland near Tyttenhanger Park, just in case his parachute had been spotted.  He had his essential gear, including wireless set, in two suitcases!  The parachute wasn't noticed, but his presence at the roundabout was.  The lorry driver passed on his suspicion to Constable Alec Scott, who questioned the stranger outside of the box, there being a caller inside – at 11.45pm.  Apparently the stranger, who was later revealed as a spy, stated he was waiting to call a hospital about his injured leg.  Constable Scott took the matter into his own hands and said he would notify the hospital on behalf of the injured party.  Good policing!  Once inside the kiosk, though, he called the Fleetville police station for back-up instead.

Much enlarged London Colney roundabout. The phone box was located at the
entrance to High Street off the picture to the right.

Karel Richard Richter was formally arrested and searched at the station, then questioned.  He was sent for trial and removed to Wandsworth Prison, from where he was later hanged.

The full story wasn't made public until 1958 when an article appeared in the Herts Advertiser (August 8th).  

Revealing a story can happen when, 77 years later, an inquisitive visitor to a museum spots a familiar landmark in a list.