13 Jun 2025
Historic cobbles dating back more than a century have been ripped up and replaced with cheap-looking Tarmac.
The work was carried out by county contractors on a section of pavement between The Blacksmith’s Arms and MP Daisy Cooper’s constituency office in St Peter’s Street.
Not only is this in the heart of the Conservation Area, it is also across the road from the city’s war memorial – used for remembrance services throughout the year, including one recently for the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
County Hall insists the work is only temporary and a full replacement programme will take place at an indeterminate future date.
A spokesperson said: “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 similar patches on sites elsewhere in the city centre, including St Peter’s Street, Market Place and Waxhouse Gate, were also supposed to be temporary and have never been adequately repaired many months later, so confidence in HCC’s commitment to making any of them right remains low.
Dr John Morewood, President of St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society, said: “The area lying between the busy roundabout and the historic St Peter’s Church is charming. It features in one of the walks around St Albans in Pevsner’s The Buildings of England – Hertfordshire. Besides the green laid out as gardens and the war memorial, Pevsner commented on the former St Peter’s workhouse, the row of small pebbledashed cottages, some with unusual oval windows, and the church ‘closing the north view of the street’. Unfortunately close to another building he mentioned, The Blacksmith’s Arms, we find the county council has spoilt Pevsner’s view. The Tarmacing over of the cobbled entrance is both unnecessary and unsightly. Let us hope that the overwhelming majority of businesses who treasure St Albans’ heritage feed back to the county council that this is not the way to do things.”
Mary Conneely, chair of St Albans Civic Society, agreed: “The use of Tarmac on such a historic pretty streetscape is indeed a shame, but alas this is not new and in reality the pavement in front of the listed cottages up to the church is also Tarmac, this was laid many years ago, it was supposed to be only a temporary fix, however temporary appears to be a long time.
“What we are witnessing is progressive downgrading of the street scene of a historic city, and that is a key issue for the Civic Society, occurring as it is in Fishpool Street and in some of our most famous areas.
“Across the city, stone setts [large heritage cobbles used to line roads and dropped kerbs] that have been replaced with Tarmac were often in a mess with gaps pointed with mortar or other materials, these were a nightmare for the less agile or wheelchair users, requiring them to take a chance and walk in the road.
“The care and proper maintenance of these setts, or cobbles, is costly and requires both skilled workers with time and often the replacement with expensive materials, alas both of these have been in short supply.
“So whilst we can complain and highlight this we need also to consider solutions and these are often unpalatable to many, the key requirement is more funding for councils.
“Our domestic rates were last estimated in 1990, during this time the steady decline in the ability of local authorities to maintain, not only historic assets, but in truth much of the public realm is plain to see, the weeds, litter, potholes and tarmac added where we all agree it should not be, is a symptom of the problem, if we truly want to live in a well cared for city, our voices need to call for more than just a piecemeal approach, we need systemic change.”
Heritage campaigner David Kaloczi, who has previously fought against the removal of historic stone setts in Park Avenue, said: “It is sad to see that yet again our city is being abused, I’ve never known the abuse happening as such a constant rate.
“This isn’t just about funding it’s about lack of care, control and monitoring of those who are supposed to be maintaining our district. As we can see here even the Conservation Area doesn’t mean anything to the authorities or the contractors. They just don’t get it and if they do they choose to ignore what a Conservation Area is about.
“When you stand up and request better you then get blocked from local Liberal Democrat Facebook groups. Whilst the few of us who are prepared to call out some of the wrongdoings in St Albans are being abused or excluded we will I sadly fear see the continual destruction of our heritage.
“If this is the way residents want our city to evolve then we will see more of what we are currently getting. Welcome to Anywhere!!”
