14 Nov 2023
Pedestrians and cyclists alike should benefit from major changes to the road network in central St Albans, but will they result in snarl-ups and delays for motorists or ease traffic flow through the city?
As detailed in last week’s St Albans Times, Herts county council is planning to install traffic lights at the junction of Marlborough Road and London Road, and create a southbound cycle lane between the junctions of Victoria Street and New Kent Road, as part of the Active Travel Scheme.
But alongside these measures are plans by the district council to shake-up parking measures around the city centre, with a consultation on yellow lines and other restrictions.
Council leader Cllr Chris White, and Cllr Jacqui Taylor, chair of SADC’s housing and inclusion committee, were keen to explain the rationale behind the initiatives, and set out their vision for the future.
“The purpose of the Marlborough Road junction changes is not just signalisation, it’s supposed to be making it more pedestrian and cycling friendly, so that’s the thinking behind it,” said Cllr White, adding that this will also involve building out one side of the junction to prevent motorists from speeding around the bend.
But he highlighted how a lack of communication about the proposals has proved frustrating for residents, who have often been left unsure about the reasoning behind developments.
“It’s quite clear that the county council have not communicated well with local residents about the Active Travel Scheme proposals.
“Some of the questions that people raise at public engagement sessions, they go away and modify their plans but they don’t go back to residents and explain if they’ve not been able to take something on board for good reason.”
Cllr Taylor revealed: “One big question that the residents of Marlborough Road have is why are they putting the cycleway on the side where the houses are with driveways, instead of the other side of the road where there aren’t as many? What they’ve not presented very well is how the whole scheme works, which is to enable cyclists to go southbound from the Peacock pub in Upper Marlborough Road.
“There’s a big built out area with a flowerbed and a bench which will need to be remodelled so the cycle way can be created, but as you start to cycle down, you will cycle down the left-hand side of Marlborough Road. It would not be natural and would be very weird to jump to the other side and the junction of Victoria Street.
“The same goes for cars. While I totally get that when you’re a resident you’re thinking about your road but if you think about driver behaviour you need to have some sort of consistency as we drive on the left in this country.
“When cyclists reach London Road they will cross over to head down Keyfield Terrace, but other cyclists can also join this route from London Road and will be on the left-hand side, but this has not been clearly explained and communicated to the residents so of course they are wondering why things outside their house are going to change and that’s a communication problem from the county council.
“It’s something where details really, really matter, because potentially, if HCC get it wrong, it could impact on people’s daily lives, whereas actually you can get it right and it doesn’t have a big impact.”
The scheme has been welcomed by St Albans Cycle Campaign as an alternative to using St Peter’s Street and Holywell Hill, the latter of which can see cyclists reach dangerous speeds on the road.
Enforcement of traffic regulations is another issue which comes up time and time again, especially given the recent introduction of 20mph speed limits across the city – a scheme soon set to be extended to Fleetville.
Cllr White said: “The thing county has got wrong is there are still 30mph and 40mph limits on London Road. The 20mph limits really work when people think that the default is 20mph, like in Camden, as you just change your driving habits. The police won’t enforce the limits and they won’t do any speed traps at night.
“London Road is generally very heavily trafficked, and also has a lot of jams. On a Sunday for instance you can get cars backing right up to the railway bridge, when there are no other cars in St Albans.”
In contrast, Victoria Street is really underused, which has prompted Cllr White to muse about installing a bus gate at the top by The Maltings Surgery, restricting access to buses only.
“But you’ve got to have cameras, and HCC said ‘Well, you know, you have to put it in first and then say it doesn’t work, and therefore can we have cameras?’”
When it comes to parking, changes are being introduced alongside the Active Travel Scheme in discussion with HCC, including potentially removing the single yellow line on London Road which leads to traffic jams on a Sunday, and delivery drivers parking in the middle of the four-way junction at Watsons Walk, London Road and Lattimore Road.
Cllr White said: “The UPS van at least seems to drop off and go, which is still not a great thing to be doing in that junction, but at least it’s only there very, very briefly. The takeaway drivers are just almost permanently parking up until they’ve got a food order. And it’s a lot of the same vehicles, because I’ve got so many photos of just the same vehicles.”
Double yellow lines technically mean no waiting unless you have a blue badge, but there is a five minute window for loading or unloading before tickets will be issued.
Cllr Taylor explained: “The theory is that people can genuinely load or unload on a double yellow line. So if you are picking up elderly grandparents who can’t walk further down the road, that type of thing, that is allowed. If you’re lifting a very heavy item into your house, that would be allowed. Loading is not collecting a sandwich or something that you can easily carry and walk with. That’s not loading.
“What’s been going on in a number of locations is delivery drivers parking on double yellow lines outside shops where they’ve got huge business glass windows so they can see up the street.
“Then the minute they see a traffic warden, they run out and move it, so the wardens can never issue tickets. It just becomes a game.
“They’re also doing it at the emergency access into Gabriel Square and on the zig-zag lines at the crossing for the Odyssey. I had a resident of Gabriel Square tell me that an ambulance was called on a Saturday night and the entrance was blocked, so people were running around into the takeaway shops trying to find the driver of the vehicle so it could be moved.
“If you report the vehicle, the district council will send one of the traffic wardens along, and when they get there the drivers run out to move the car and shout abuse at the wardens. That’s very, very expensive enforcement for no income to the district, because they can’t issue tickets because there’s a five minute observation period.
“So where there absolutely should not be parking at all, the proposal is for there to be double kerb markings, which means no loading and tickets can be issued instantly. So they haven’t got time to notice and run out of their business to move the car. Businesses are entitled to a business permit, so they could apply to the district council and park in the designated bays. They don’t need to be doing this.
“So there are loads of proposals going out, and I expect comments to come back and small changes made, but I think generally a lot of thought has gone into these measures. We won’t have got absolutely everything right first time, but that’s the point of doing the informal consultation before we get through to the formal consultation process.”
