16 Jan 2025
An abandoned skip overflows with festering fly-tipped rubbish, mattresses and car parts litter a roadside ditch, a disused community centre rots away over a decade after it should have been demolished, unwanted garages provide a breeding ground for anti-social behaviour, and a broken estate wall remains unrepaired years after it should have been replaced.
This is the neglect of London Colney.
Residents and councillors alike have condemned the district council for ignoring long-running issues which blight the village, many of which have been a problem for years.
In February 2014 a scheme for the former Cotlandswick Community Centre and adjacent garages received planning permission for much needed housing for the local area.
It would have seen the demolition of the existing garages, shed and community centre and erection of three apartments over nine replacement garages, a new community centre with one affordable apartment, the reprovision of storage sheds and bin stores, and the creation of 15 parking spaces and additional amenity space.
However, this permission lapsed three years later without any work starting on the site, and it remains a derelict eyesore in the centre of the estate.
Metal fencing around the building and garages – allegedly to prevent anti-social behaviour – does nothing to improve the vista.
Neighbour Jenny, who asked us not to use her surname, said: “The situation here is dire and disgusting, with the fences blocking parking and doing nothing to keep people out of the derelict garages.
“The council is very well aware of the problem and how it has a debilitating effect on me as a leaseholder. When I try and sell my property I doubt I will get a decent price because of this.
“I pay my maintenance every month and shouldn’t have to live like this. Of course there will always be people who treat places badly, but this has a ripple effect by making things even worse.”
At the outskirts of the Cotlandswick estate, more fencing surrounds a wall which started to fall down in early 2022, and is now almost completely missing. A similar situation has occurred around the other side of the same block, yet nothing has been done to repair or replace them.
Elsewhere in the village in Fiveacres, disused garages are being used by rough sleepers to escape the bitter winter cold. But they are not the cause of the fly-tipped rubbish in a ditch alongside the A1081, which includes domestic appliances, rusty piping, a mattress, tyres, an armchair and chunks of polystyrene.
Nearby, a privately-hired skip is bulging with black sacks of indeterminate waste, surrounded by industrial bags of builders’ rubbish, an old fridge and other unwanted items. The skip was first reported to the council in spring 2023, but there have been no efforts to arrange for its removal, so it remains a magnet for fly-tipping.
Back in July, SADC confirmed its target time for the clearance of rubbish was seven working days from the time the request is logged on the council’s system, but the waste in Fiveacres has been there for months with no sign of being removed any time soon.
Labour councillor for London Colney, Mike Hobday, has been pressurising SADC to take action on long-running issues affecting the village.
He said: “The state of council garage sites isn’t the sexiest or most exciting of issues. But when neglect means that sites decay, then the impact on the quality of life of local residents is severe. Neglected sites attract anti-social behaviour, whether fly-tipping or in the recent troubling example, rough sleeping. The council has allowed a vicious cycle in which there is less incentive to maintain an attractive local environment.
“There has been zero capital investment in council garages across London Colney since at least 2019. It is this neglect that has produced the problems that residents experience today. The neglect is unacceptable when garages produce an annual surplus of over £600,000.
“There are multiple better uses for garage sites that are unlettable. They could be demolished or renovated for much needed parking space. They could be redeveloped for flats or houses. They could be turned into workshops for small businesses. Or they could be turned into attractive green spaces. Cllr Emma Turnbull and I are consulting local residents about the options that they would prefer.
“It is particularly striking that the empty garage site behind the former Cotlandswick Community Centre received planning permission for redevelopment 11 years ago in 2014. It is a scandal that this disused site continues to blight the local community.”
SADC strategic director for community and place delivery Chris Traill said: “We are aware of concerns by residents about fly-tipping at two council-owned sites in London Colney.
“Fly-tipping is not only unsightly and a potential hazard, but it is also a criminal offence and we will take action against any offenders we can identify.
“We have made it a priority to clear up both sites and further secure them when resources permit, though there are some issues we are working to overcome.
“There is a privately-owned skip at the Five Acres garage site and we are talking to the owner to enforce its removal.
“In addition the site is the base for some rough sleepers, whom our outreach workers are in touch with, so we are having to proceed sensitively.
“The damaged wall at the former community centre site is scheduled to be repaired in the next month or two.
“In the longer term, we have carried out a survey of little-used garage sites across the district and are looking at future options such as housing development. This applies to both these sites as well as the former community centre.
“We work to make life better for all our communities, including London Colney, and ask people to report any fly-tippers to our environmental enforcement or waste management teams via our website.
“We also ask people not to tamper with fly-tips as they may contain evidence of the source that we would want to preserve.”
