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Sportspace - Hemel Hempstead
 
 
Thursday, 9th September 2010

 
PART 8


The New Town Story is sponsored by The Marlowes Shopping Centre in Hemel Hempstead. To visit the centre's website just click on the picture

WITH construction work underway in Adeyfield on homes in 1949, it was pledged that the first houses would be allotted to people needed to develop and service the town such as building workers, additional policemen, nurses and teachers who would otherwise be thrown onto the council’s already overcrowded housing list.
In July of that year Hemel Hempstead Borough Council voted for a motion to try and get some of the new town houses being built by the development corporation allocated to local people on the 1,000 strong waiting list. The motion was put forward by Councillor John Morris in his maiden speech.
It would help create a balanced town, he said, rather than having a ‘little Willesden’ and ‘little Acton.’ His motion was passed by just one vote, but won much acclaim in a Gazette editorial.

Northridge was the home of Nathaniel Micklem, one of the fiercest critics of the New Town. The house stood on what is now Northridge Park.


Nine months later the council decided not to proceed with the idea. It was explained that any houses built for it by the development corporation would come out of the quota of houses the council was allowed to build by central government.
If you got a house what rent would you be paying? Well, the most expensive council houses in 1949 were the recently built four-bedroom ones in Oliver Road and Anchor Lane. Here you would pay £1 12s 10d at Oliver Road and 5d more at Beechfield. This was inclusive of rates and 5d for the copper!
Work on building new town houses had started, but everyone was still waiting for what was described as ‘the final plan’ for the town from the development corporation and this did not appear until August 1949.
It went on display at 25 Marlowes on Saturday, August 13. There were modifications, but few surprises, said the Gazette.

The development of the town centre had been broken down into smaller development plans so that the overall redevelopment would take place over a longer period.
Trees and open spaces were given a priority within the residential developments. It was envisaged that in 18 months time house construction would reach 600 a year.
The plan was unveiled in the same week as many people living in the town centre received notice that the development corporation were applying for a compulsory purchase order affecting their land.
The development corporation, however, gave an assurance that no steps would be taken by them to implement the order for at least two years.
The Gazette reported that there was “general relief” at the modifications to the plan, but criticised them because they were so full of detail it was difficult for people to comprehend how they would be affected.

HOWEVER, the ‘general relief’ didn’t last very long. In October Hemel Hempstead Borough Council voted to appeal to the government to put an end to the development of the new town.
It was Alderman A. H. Jarman (Jarman Park) who put forward the resolution because of the “serious condition of the country’s finances” and the “disturbance and financial hardship” that would be caused to local people.
A little later in the month the Hemel Hempstead Protection Association declared the New Town Master Plan was an ‘utter failure’ at a crowded public meeting in St John’s Hall.

They claimed the layout of the roads would mean 600 homes would have to be demolished. The plan would also involve the demolition of 100 shops and businesses.
The borough council tried hard to get the development corporation to say what the estimated cost of the new town would be but the corporation refused and said it would be “inappropriate at this stage.”
However, Councillor K. Dunkley, who was an accountant carried out “weeks of hard effort” and came up with a figure of at least £55,446,000.
The public inquiry into the Master Plan opened on Tuesday, November 15 at St John’s Hall and the development corporation faced a barrage of criticism.
The proposal within the plan to demolish Boxmoor and Apsley stations and replace them with a new station at Two Waters was strongly opposed by representatives from John Dickinson’s mills, who said it was a “silly idea” to demolish a station (Apsley) which served the area’s biggest employer.
Lt Col Lovel F. Smeathman, representing West Herts Hospital, pointed out that one road on the plan went right through the middle of the Maternity Ward.
Mr V. A. Draper said that under the plan watercress beds he had occupied since 1919 would be put out of action and his home in Grove Road would have to go.
However, it wasn’t all criticism. Councillor Gilbert Hitchcock welcomed the scheme on behalf of the trades council, which represented some 1,800 trade unionists in the town, and also on behalf of the Labour party.
He thought the new town would provide greater opportunities for young people. The inquiry lasted for five days and the final decision would be down to the government.

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