23 Oct 2025
The patchwork deterioration of St Albans city centre looks set to continue with the news that 100-year-old historic cobbles ripped up and replaced with Tarmac will not be restored – despite assurances from County Hall to the contrary.
Back in June, contractors replaced a section of pavement between The Blacksmith’s Arms and MP Daisy Cooper’s constituency office in St Peter’s Street – in the heart of the city’s conservation area and opposite the war memorial.
They removed cobbles dating back more than a century and patched up the pavement with cheap-looking Tarmac, but at the time, County Hall insisted the work was only temporary and a full replacement programme would take place at an indeterminate future date.
The area features as a classic view in Pevsner’s The Buildings of England – Hertfordshire, alongside the small pebbledashed cottages, the one-time workhouse, and St Peter’s Church, and has huge significance because of its history and heritage.
A spokesperson told the St Albans Times in June: “This is a temporary fix which will be replaced with the matching material in the longer term. Due to the bespoke nature of heritage cobbles, it is not always possible to rectify defects in the first visit and sometimes traffic management is needed for a full repair which needs to applied for and organised before any work can take place.”
But they have since admitted that not only was the initial statement completely untrue, but the work was actually commissioned by former SADC leader and ex-county councillor Chris White as part of his locality budget funding – something which was overlooked when we covered the initial story.
The highways locality budgets – which could be as much as £90K per annum – are primarily intended for highway maintenance, including:
- road resurfacing;
- pavement repairs;
- drainage clearing;
- traffic calming schemes, smaller projects and works such as hedge trimming, sign cleaning and white line painting.
A spokesperson for HCC revealed this week: “We had previously indicated that this area of surfacing was temporary and that the cobbles would be re-instated, this was incorrect, and we are sorry for any confusion caused.
“The permanent re-surfacing of this area was a highways locality budget scheme funded by the councillor at the time and was agreed following concerns about the cobbled surface being slippery and uneven, which posed a risk of trips and falls.
“To improve safety, the area was resurfaced to provide a flat, stable surface.”
Elsewhere in the city centre, stones and paving have also been replaced with Tarmac, including locations in St Peter’s Street, Market Place and Waxhouse Gate, with HCC not confirming whether these are temporary fixes or permanent measures.
There has been widespread condemnation for the inferior nature of the repairs by heritage groups.
Professor Tim Boatswain, chair of Conservation 50, reacted to the revelation about The Blacksmith’s Arms cobbles: “Financial considerations and a lack of emotional attachment to St Albans are as likely the motives behind this outcome as health and safety.
“While safety is important, this decision represents a profound failure of stewardship. Hertfordshire County Council acted as a property manager, not a guardian of our heritage, and in doing so, they’ve sacrificed irreplaceable historic charm for a bland, standardised solution.
“They’ve chosen short-term convenience over the long-term character of our area, replacing durable, authentic cobbles with a surface that has no soul and no story to tell. Future generations will look back and see only what was lost.”
John Morewood, president of St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society, said: “This is disappointing and worrying at the same time. We are all trying in St Albans to protect our heritage assets and that means the look and feel of the environment in which they are located. It is the charm of our city that attracts visitors and benefits our businesses.
“HCC with their botched up unsightly remediation works defeats this objective and make our city unattractive to visitors. There is no consultation with heritage bodies who could give better advice. Also HCC’s statements given contradict each other. Readers will remember that as recently as June a spokesman for HCC said that in this case the tarmacing would be a temporary fix and the cobbled surface would be properly replaced. Now it seems this was never the intention. What will be next – the full tarmacing of the market area justified on health and safety grounds? What is needed is a sensible, well thought out approach to resolve the issue.
“This is why the establishment of a parish council for the unparished areas of St Albans is so important otherwise unsympathetic decisions will be made miles away without any consideration of our heritage and its environment.”
Local campaigner David Kaloczi said: “The total disrespect for our city and its heritage by the previous Liberal Democrat leader of SADC is beyond words but sadly not a surprise. To think Chris White received an OBE for services to local government just shows you how ridiculous the honours system is.
“Any competent councillor would have got funding to make good the historic cobbles and not gone out of their way to destroy them.”
