19 Feb 2024
Just when you thought it was safe to drive in St Albans city centre… Only a few months after the controversial closures of High Street and Verulam Road were lifted, Herts county council has fresh ideas for shutting routes through the city.
Their latest idea is the installation of bus gates in Victoria Street, restricting access at the St Peter’s Street junction and preventing cars from travelling in that direction.
The gates will be located very close to the top of the street, not far from the junction, with the potential to interfere with The Maltings surgery more than the shopping centre.
It will mean another east-west route through the city centre is blocked to cars, vans, motorbikes, lorries and taxis, and is likely to shift traffic down London Road/High Street and Hatfield Road/Catherine Street in order to compensate.
Cllr Chris White, leader of the district council and a county councillor for St Albans, said there is no immediate rush to introduce the scheme as it will not benefit from the Active Travel budget which is resulting in a cycle lane in Marlborough Road and other initiatives.
He explained: “We also want to think about it in the context of St Peter’s Street, because it’s almost more of a St Peter’s Street problem than a Victoria Street issue.
“I’ve also already spoken to The Maltings and I said to County, ‘Look, I think you’ve got to loop them in at an early stage because there are potential snags here which can be resolved, or may not be resolved, but for them to find out as part of a general consultation letter that something had been coming down the track they’re not really going to be very happy’.
“County got that straight away and said ‘yeah you’re clearly right’.
“So there’s an informal conversation going on and they’ve given themselves more time.
“I’ve also said, it’s not just the shopping centre. I haven’t spoken to The Maltings Surgery yet but there may be issues about dropping off elderly people at the surgery.
“However, it could be a brilliant scheme provided you talk to the right people.”
But the main issue remains the question of what roads the diverted traffic will end up using instead of entering St Peter’s Street from Victoria Street.
“Well that’s the problem isn’t it. Are they going to go up Bricket Road? I don’t want all those trees coming down. But all of that is potential, so County are saying ‘we’re going to think about it some more’ which I think is the sensible approach.
“There’s not going to be any consultation on the bus gate at this stage, but that doesn’t mean they’re not keen on it, there’s just much more work to be done.”
But Richard Marrett, operations manager at The Maltings Shopping Centre, is vehemently opposed to the proposals.
“We strongly object to the proposed plans for a bus gate at the junction of Victoria Street and Chequer Street. This proposal would hinder traffic flow across the city centre resulting in a negative effect on local businesses, those of whom have already suffered enough as a consequence of other recent road closure trials implemented by Hertfordshire County Council.”
