On Sunday morning I put round a note indicating that Herts Highways were planning to replace the pavements with ‘black top’, something I believe would alter the character of the street.
The email and web response has been overwhelming and very clear: only one resident so far has said they favour this solution. Everyone has backed my stance.
I have relayed this to Herts Highways and will post their response when I get it.
I have secured a statement from Hertfordshire County Council about their intentions about both Market place and St Peter’s Street. I am dismayed to read that there is no consideration of consulting with the public on any of these issues. I will, howeer, make sure that the public is fully involved, eve if HCC has lost sight of them.
I would warn readers that ‘pedestianisation’ is a loose term and that it often means just the banning of motor vehicles other than for access or emergencies.
Pedestrianisation of Roads in St Albans
Further to the public consultation on the St Albans Urban Transport Plan
during the summer and autumn of 2008, a number of comments were made
from members of the public and local councillors regarding the
pedestrianisation of both Market Place and St Peter’s Street. This
feedback has been incorporated into the final document which has been
completed but has not yet been published.
Now that these suggestions have been formally raised and noted they will
be taken into consideration when any new proposals are brought to the
drawing board. No work is planned for 09/10, apart from a Traffic Model
which will be constructed this financial year and from which computer
simulations can be run.
This model is the first analysis of existing traffic problems within the
City and will be used in future decision making processes for schemes.
Whilst models have been done in the past, there has been nothing of this
scale and detail. It will look at traffic travelling into St Albans, as
well as the routes that people choose when simply passing through. It
will look at the places where congestion regularly occurs and therefore
the impact that schemes and improvements to other areas e.g. the Ancient
Briton or the King William junctions could have on these already traffic
affected areas. It will also look at how pedestrianisation could affect
other roads i.e. moving the problem elsewhere etc.
It is not currently the ambition of HCC to pedestrianise either St
Peter’s Street or Market Place. Certainly no funding has been secured
for either location. If pedestrianisation was to occur then a full
consultation process will be carried out with local businesses. Access
will always be maintained for deliveries though possible at restricted
hours. It has also been suggested whilst hypothetically discussing the
pedestrianisation that provision be made for customer collections.
I have reported the two demolished posts to Herts Highways. This of course emphasises yet again that this street needs to have some physical pinch point to prevent oversized vehicles from entering. A number of residents have complained about damage to their cars over the past twelve months or so.
I will continue to press for urgent action.
Hertfordshire Liberal Democrats have called for the outright abolition of Herts Highways, the public-private partnership which is responsible for maintaining the county’s roads and pavements.
County Cllr Stephen Giles-Medhurst, the Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson, said: “It has been clear from some years that local residents have become sick and tired of the poor deal they get from their money when it comes to the maintenance of roads and pavements.
”It is obvious from mine and other councillors’ post bags that the dreadful state of our highways and pavements combined with the failure to do maintenance work jobs properly is the number one issue with residents.
“At least this year residents can pass judgement on the Conservatives’ management of our highways when they vote in the county elections on 4 June.”
He added:
“I want to be clear: if the Liberal Democrats win control of the county council on 4 June we will start the process of breaking up the current arrangement so as to make work on highways more accountable to local residents and more reactive to the real world.
“I and my colleagues no longer believe that Herts Highways in its current form is working for the benefit of Hertfordshire residents. The current arrangements allow the private sector in effect to write itself cheques: the private sector plans the work, dream up expensive safety schemes – many of which have to be redone – and monitors the work of other private contractors.
“Local people and their councillors have precious little say. Indeed the current arrangements mean that residents and councillors are effectively ignored when they want schemes to happen like 20 mph limits and ignored when they want money-wasting schemes NOT to happen. There is almost no local accountability and just recently the Conservative Administration has cut the number of front line staff delivering on our streets.
“No-one would employ someone to decorate their house and then ask a second decorator to check whether the first was doing it properly. They would expect to have the right to check performance themselves.
“When it comes to public money, it is public servants, answerable directly to councillors and the public, who should be doing the planning, checking and monitoring.”
Stephen also commented on the recent row over the highways budget: “We recently proposed extra funding for pavement repairs, upping it by £1m because the county has allowed for just under £4m to be spent in this
area this year – just 16% of its maintainable budget. We also proposed a pro active pothole repair service – not just waiting for them to be reported by the public – thus potentially saving the council money in the long term as well
as extra drainage works to prevent flooding.
“All of this was rejected by the Conservatives who seem unwilling to accept any criticism of their highways plans. It’s time to end the current arrangements which means only senior managers in private companies and Herts Highways get to decide where the money is spent rather than the people who pay the council tax.”
NOTES
Herts Highways locks in two private sector partners in a triangular relationship with the county council. The contracts are due for renewal in 2012. By early planning it would be possible to bring a substantial part of the contract back in house.
This is an emergency cable repair by EDF. Work should finish today.
There has been some recent controversy, stirred up by our MP (who is not of course from St Albans).
I have certainly been told by many residents that they are frustrated by the fact that St Peter’s Street is still open to cars, although others have doubts about where the cars would go banned from the town centre. Evidence gathered when the street was closed for roadworks over the past two years shows that ‘footfall’ (the number of people shopping) went up when the street was closed.
No pedestrianisation scheme is likely to exclude buses or taxis – or emergency vehicles. If readers have views then let me know by completing the on-line poll on this site.
Some of you may well get the impression that things are worse than ever.
I have reported:
– the terrible state of the road surface as Hatfield Road crosses the railway line
– the huge pothole in Grosvenor Road as it joins Alma Road.
Unfortunately some of the worst surfaces aren’t even controlled by the county council but by private companies. Station Way has rightly attracted much criticism and the private company responsible is under pressure to do something about it before there is an accident.
Local highways officials have requested that the following go up the pecking order when it comes to funding:
– Woodstock Road North
– Clarence Road
– London Road (Alma Rd to rail bridge)
– Hatfield Road from Catherine Street to Clarence Road (mainly the junctions).
These are in addition to Woodstock Road South, Beechwood Avenue and Beaumont Avenue previously mentioned.
I have also requested that the Victoria Street and Alma Road junction be improved (this is showing signs of subsidence).
Conservative Councillor Stuart Pile (captured in this article) is responsible for roads and pavements in our city
I have discussed this website with Herts Highways officials, after a resident made a complaint. It appears that this website may well introduce a delay and that the quickest way of getting something fixed is to log it directly on the county council’s own website:
http://www.hertsdirect.org/actweb/hfr/default.cfm.
Mind you that doesn’t aways work either: so if you have logged something and nothing appears to have been done then please get hold of me.
Fix 1
Holywell Hill crossing: antiskid surface about to go in. Herts Highways are not sure yet whether a second signal head should go in since this is a conservation area. It is hoped that the changed surface will make the crossing more obvious to motorists.
Junction of Lemsford Road and Hatfield Road: there is an issue of the peculiar camber and also of cars driving on footpath. Maybe talk to the school about whether the pavement could be widened at this point.
Waddington Road: the white lines showing who has priority at the junction with Drovers’Way will be restored by the end of April.
Waddington Road drain: a store is pouring fat down drain. It’s actually a district council issue but the Herts Highways gully crew will anyway give it a clean.
www.sixtofix.co.uk
Elm Lawns drop kerb: Herts Highways are awaiting advice on priorities from the St Albans access group
Raymer Close parking problems: this is now out for informal consultation
Bardwell Road: residents were keen to see yellow lines down the side road, which, strangely enough, turns out to be a district council road. Yellow lines will now go down and will be enforced once in.
Proposed parking restrictions on Churchill and Jennings Roads: no objections have been received so these will now go ahead shortly.