23 Jan 2025
Developers behind plans for 550 new homes on north-west Harpenden Green Belt have submitted a revised traffic plan in a bid to win approval for the scheme.
Legal and General want to build land at Cooters End Lane and Ambrose Lane, on arable fields close to King’s School, Spire Hospital and The Oval.
The project does not conform with SADC’s recently submitted Local Plan, which would reduce the size of their development to 300 and give the council more rights to force the developers to fund improvements for local infrastructure.
Campaigners say the revised traffic plan has been hastily patched-together and is untested, and will cause significant traffic disruption for residents, as well as being potentially unsafe.
L&G and Herts county council previously proposed reducing Luton Road to a single carriageway under the Nickey Line bridge, introducing segregated cycle lanes in order for the project to be seen as a sustainable development.
But following widespread local opposition they backed down and HCC admitted the single carriageway scheme was unworkable, resulting in a new alternative plan from L&G.
According to the plans, this appears to introduce a new 20mph zone under the bridge, narrow the vehicle carriageways, add a new set of traffic lights under the bridge and potentially lengthen the signal of existing traffic lights for cycle crossing.
It also requires cyclists to get off their bikes under the bridge and use narrow pedestrian footpaths.
Campaign group Stop Legal and General claim the new plan is completely untested and L&G has provided no assessment as to how it would impact on congestion and safety.
A spokesperson said: “Shockingly, HCC has indicated that they will accept this new traffic plan as an ‘improvement’ to the current situation, as long as L&G pay £30,000 towards a feasibility study of the site for a longer-term solution.
“HCC has not indicated why they think this untested plan is an ‘improvement’ or any details about a new longer term solution. Even so, their approval makes it much harder for the district council’s planning committee to turn down L&G’s development on traffic grounds. Meanwhile, ironically HCC’s own Highways Department are recommending motorists to avoid Luton Road due to the current roadworks.
“Furthermore, L&G has already conceded that their proposals will make local roads such as Ambrose Lane and Cooters End Lane rat-runs. Yet they have also just submitted detailed plans to site almost 50 additional car parking spaces off Ambrose Lane.
“As local residents we are convinced that the combined effect of the traffic generated by this development and this new traffic plan will be a complete nightmare. The current roadworks at the Nickey Line bridge and last October show how appallingly disruptive this could be to local residents and Harpenden as a whole.
“We are also very concerned about the safety impacts of narrowing the vehicle lanes, given the large vehicles passing under the bridge, and forcing cyclists onto narrow pedestrian footpaths. However as things stand, HCC are recommending that L&G’s development be approved on the basis of an untested, hastily prepared short-term solution. In our view this is simply unacceptable for such a major, strategic highway and could grind Harpenden and the town centre to a halt.”
Many residents have already lodged objections to the scheme with the district council.
Tim and Di Pope of Tennyson Road said: “We are somewhat surprised that we are being asked again to comment on L&G’s proposal – and that St Albans District Council are allowing minor tweaks to a scheme which do not address any of the major concerns already raised by an overwhelming number of residents and local groups.”
Shelagh Collingwood of Clarence Road pointed out: “This plan is not feasible in many ways. Where is the infrastructure to support 550 new dwellings when local services are already stretched beyond capacity?”
Derek Baker of Hillside View said: “The proposed development will inevitably lead to increased traffic on both major roads and side streets in the area. This is particularly concerning in residential areas where many children walk to and from local schools. Increased traffic on these side roads not only leads to congestion but also raises serious safety concerns for our children, who are at greater risk from additional vehicles.
“The safety of schoolchildren should be a top priority, and this proposal fails to address how their well-being will be safeguarded from heightened traffic dangers.”
John Allatt of Longcroft Avenue added: “There is a feeble attempt to deal with pedestrian activity by creating an additional pedestrian route at the Nickey Bridge but it is unlikely this could be made safe and widening it would add to the traffic chaos. At peak traffic times the travel times by car to school and work will be enormous.”
You can comment on the scheme using SADC’s planning portal or by emailing planningcomments@stalbans.gov.uk using the reference 5/2023/0327 before this coming Saturday, January 25.
Stop L&G is also urging residents to email county councillors Paul de Kort and Teresa Heritage to reiterate their concerns and asking them to do all they can to reverse HCC’s approval for this untested traffic plan:
paul.dekort@hertfordshire.gov.uk and teresa.heritage@hertfordshire.gov.uk
