26 Sep 2023
Creating a vision for Market Place and George Street should be an essential legacy of the controversial city centre road closures experiment, even though there is currently no budget for improvements.
Prominent local businessman Sean Hughes, who runs The Boot and Dylan’s in the aforementioned streets, is demanding a multi-agency response to the decision to reopen High Street at weekends and George Street during weekdays.
He was speaking exclusively to the St Albans Times in the wake of a meeting of SADC’s public realm committee which ratified an earlier pledge by Herts county council and the St Albans High Street Recovery Board.
Sean said it was crucial that any decision on full or part road closures must include a vision for the future, despite the disappointing news that there was no funding for immediate improvements.
“We are constantly told there is no budget for anything so I’m not surprised. There was no budget for the museum but that had a £6 million refurbishment so it is all about vision and looking into a future plan for St Albans.
“We need to find a budget. Whether that is through the Government’s own pedestrianisation budgets or through Heritage or lottery funding through the creation of a new Cathedral Quarter, we must find the budget. It is very easy to say ‘there is no money’.”
Last week’s public realm meeting heard how the public consultation into the trial received 1,172 responses – of which 250 were since the board made its decision, pushing support for the trial measures over 50%.
Of those who responded, 51% supported George Street being closed for traffic, and 43% backed George Street and High Street being reopened to traffic.
There were 42 responses from all city centre businesses, with the largest proportion being 44% in favour of High Street reopening to traffic and George Street open to pedestrians at the weekend only. 72.5% of responding businesses said they had seen fewer customers during the trial, even though HCC data analysis showed overall footfall into the city centre had increased by 16%.
The lack of a budget for improvements to George Street and Market Place was confirmed by HCC head of highways strategy and implementation Rupert Thacker, after Harpenden councillor Teresa Heritage asked how the upgrading would be financed.
Mr Thacker said: “In relation to George Street and Market Place there is a joint aspiration between the county and district councils to improve those public spaces. However, we’ve been quite clear throughout this process that while we can all have an aspiration there is not currently a clear funding source for it.
“We’ve been quite clear with traders that this is a discussion we would like to have in terms of an ambition and a vision for where we would like to take these places to make sure there is support for it, with a view to then be able to secure funding, be it through bids to government, development funding or indeed district or county funding if it becomes available.”
The news has come as a bitter blow to those retailers like Sean who had expected some sort of upgrading of the area in the wake of the experiment.
He said: “St Albans council and the BID must do everything in their power to create a vision for Market Place to ensure that the closure is fully utilised. This should include power for traders on market days as well as gallery space for other days creating a link from the Town Hall to the Cathedral. Some people may laugh and say ‘dream on’ but without dreams we do not have any future changes that will benefit the centre of our city.”
He elaborated: “The area outside the Clock Tower is of serious historical interest and was a battlefield in the War of the Roses in 1455 as well as a huge number of crucial events in the history of our country and this needs to be protected and shouted about.
“We may have no budget now, BUT we must have a vision for the future with a budget that is predicted so that we can knock on every door including the National Lottery Fund to get something moving. Without a vision of the landscape of Market Place there will be no budget for anything. I would urge BID and SADC to get together with property and business owners on Market Place to create that vision as soon as possible.
“BID has a budget of over £400K and as this is in the centre of the BID area a vision needs to be organised and created with a leadership and budget from that fund with SADC. We have an opportunity to ensure the market is properly electrified and future proofed and the area becomes a superb space for art and community.
“We have always been told there is no budget for George Street as well and again the lack of vision for what the street could be is being lost. The street is one of the most historic streets in St Albans and the pavements there are far too narrow.
“Talks with HCC to level the road will work with a one-way system and a slow 10mph limit but again we need to ask the question – why is there no budget? The trial encompassing a one-way route has made things better but the reopening of the street needs to be done without loading on both sides to at least past George Street Canteen to avoid damage to buildings.
“If the weekend closure is to be permanent it needs to have a quality finish. Huge areas of Watford have had rising bollards which is what we need on George Street to allow access and to ensure a safe closure at weekends or on bank holidays. The gates make the street look closed and if that is all we can get then I can’t see it being worth having a closed street.
“After all a closed street – what we have had for the last 12 months – is very different to a pedestrianised street with proper level surfaces and benches/landscaping. A closed street away from the route of the main city centre is not inviting and is not good for business, especially those like FlowerBox who need vehicle access to their shops.
“It is very, very disappointing that HCC have been keen to close the roads but have not allocated even 1p of their budget to turn closed roads into pedestrianised areas.
“Welwyn Garden City successfully secured vast funding for the changes to their town centre including new seating spaces and pedestrianisation.
“By simply saying there is no money, you are saying we have no future to ensure St Albans is the premier destination of Hertfordshire and without upkeep and funding it will soon backfire. The area in front of the Clock Tower is dangerous with loose stones on the roads, the bench is in desperate need of repair and all street furniture needs repainting – something SADC and the BID need to ensure happens! It’s looking messy. If that means using £35K of BID money to make the centre look like it is not falling down then the budget must be found.
“I hope that we get the vision drawn up and drawn up quickly so that we can see the benefits of Market Place being closed and see a future of what we can do with the public space.”
Some of Sean’s points were also raised during the public realm meeting.
Cllr Jacqui Taylor, who represents St Peter’s ward, said: “There are a lot of problems with the surface in Market Place and it’s not very accessible. There are gaps in the cobblestones as wide as my foot, there are random kerbs which are not serving any purpose and can be dangerous for mobility scooters – this is not so much landscaping as the highways surface being more safe and accessible for all. If we get the Market Place experience to be really good then people may want more of it.”
Some of the councillors who spoke at the meeting were not in favour of the closures being lifted.
Cllr Chris Brattle (Bernards Heath) highlighted how there had not been any face-to-face consultations with members of the public on site, adding: “It seems very sad that it’s going backwards and I’m disappointed to see the High Street closure ending and the George Street closure wound back.
“At least we have Market Place being made permanent, but I can’t help but feel that from the feedback I’ve had from people in the city centre and how busy it’s been at weekends during the trial that it’s a step backwards and is personally disappointing to me…
“People that enjoy the improvements tend to be busy, younger, they don’t respond to [surveys], they don’t volunteer their opinions. Whereas the people who object tend to be extremely strident, and although comparatively small in number they do tend to make their voices heard loud and clear.”
Mr Thacker said the conversation over High Street did not need to end, with the infrastructure remaining in place should it be decided to close it again at weekends in the future.
Cllr Matt Fisher, deputy chair of St Albans Greens and ward representative for Clarence, said: “We’re missing an opportunity here by way of leadership. Is it a case of a comfortable decision that has been made, rather than a holistic, representative and informed one?”
Cllr Brattle added that any survey on the future of George Street needed boots on the ground recording the opinions from members of the public, who, he demanded, should also be asked if they supported reintroducing the weekend closure of High Street.
The committee voted 10 in favour of ratifying the decision to reopen High Street at weekends and begin a revised Phase 3 of the experiment with George Street only closed at weekends, with Cllr Brattle abstaining.
