Fundamental Inaccuracies And False Presumptions

Traffic

• There are traffic jams even at random, not busy times

• From 2pm on a Friday, the roads around Chiswell Green are gridlocked with the Friday rush hour

• The traffic lights to be installed at the new Burston Care Village will push traffic trying to avoid the traffic lights onto the Watford Road

• Eight Wheeler lorries regularly ignore the weight restrictions on Watford road. This is particularly northbound during late afternoon

• Any time there’s a problem on M25, M1 or A414, the traffic on the Watford Road is solid

Size and Location

• St Albans in general and Chiswell Green in particular is hugely over-subscribed for medical and dental services. An extra 800 to 1000 residents will degrade services for all

• Adding nearly 1,000 new residents to a village of 2,800 is ridiculous. We will become a town overnight and lose our village character

Relationship With The Surroundings

• There are lots of houses in Chiswell Green that are being renovated to make them bigger to accommodate families, or knocked down and rebuilt as two to accommodate smaller family units. This is increasing the number of homes in St Albans without building any big developments

• We have a declining birth rate, net emmigration from the UK and more people moving away from London as they’re working from home so we don’t need so many houses now in the South East

• Chiswell Green has an aging population. Their homes are going to become available in the next 10-20 years for families to move into. To release those properties onto the open market sooner, Chiswell Green needs to provide more homes suitable for older people, or people with care needs

• New houses should be provided in areas where there is employment nearby, not in a village. Chiswell Green’s largest employer is Burston Nurseries at only 150 people

• Chiswell Green is a village, with specific charm and character, which for many is the reason for living here. This development will harm and completely change that character irreparably

Parking

• Our neighbouring town of Hemel Hempstead has a very effective way of dealing with parking demand. In most of its streets pavement parking is encouraged. Pavements, on both sides of the road, are wide enough for pedestrians with buggies or wheelchairs and for parked cars. As a result the roads are not cluttered by parked cars and residents have more space as houses are not packed so closely together.

• There is never enough parking for modern living outside new houses so cars from the new houses will leave their cars in Forge End and Long Fallow and walk to their homes

• In spite of a campaign to ‘Shop Local’ SADC imposed extra parking conditions and physical barriers to deter parking, e,g, raised kerbs outside the chemists and near Simmonds, 24/7 parking prohibited in the quiet little service road just down the A405 from Starbucks, excessive yellow lines in Chiswell Green Lane, Tippendell Lane and near the Chemists

Public Transport

• Buses through Chiswell Green are mostly only 2 or 3 an hour, even in rush hour, and the timetable is erratic

• Current bus stops along the Watford Rd. are further away than the “Guidelines for Provided for Jouneys on Foot” in 2000 which state they are best within 500m for commuters and 400m for others

• Public transport is poor from Chiswell Green; a 5-minute car journey to Park Street requires an hour’s journey by bus to St Albans Abbey Station and a train back to Park Street !

• Cycling in Chiswell Green is so dangerous; there’s so much traffic and so little space for cyclists on the roads

• It’s not easy to use public transport or to cycle; the buses are infrequent and only go straight to St Albans and Luton or to Watford

Functioning Of The Development

• Chiswell Green is perfectly located for people who need good access to the main road routes nearby. New residents of these houses are likely to travel by car to work, not cycle

• The existing bus route through Chiswell Green is too far from the new development to encourage the new residents to use it

• St Albans is nearly 3 miles from the City Station with only 1 direct bus route per hour. Residents of the new development would use cars to travel to the station when car use is supposed to be discouraged