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Monday, 6th September 2010

 
PART 3 END FOR THE LINE

AN ENGINE ON THE VIADUCT ACROSS MARLOWES
THE public inquiry into objections to the Hemel Hempstead New Town proposal opened on Monday, December 2, 1946 at St Johns Hall in Boxmoor.
The Hall was never full throughout the inquiry, perhaps giving an indication that opposition to the plan wasn’t quite as strong as some, including the Gazette, made out.
Highlight of the evidence given to the inquiry on the first morning was by one of Hemel Hempstead’s oldest inhabitants, 93-year-old Mr Nathaniel Micklem KC - who gave his name to today’s Micklem Drive and School - who had lived in the town since he was 10. He said that as Hemel Hempstead was built in hilly country on the edge of the Chilterns it was quite unsuitable for a new town and the plan was “a desecration.“
Many of the questions objectors wanted to raise concerned compensation for land taken by the new town, but it was ruled that this was outside the scope of the inquiry.
The case for local farmers was put strongly and it was pointed out that 3,500 acres were to be taken, more than at Stevenage, the other proposed new town of the time.

Mr G. W. Cornew, manager of Boxmoor Farm, had a holding of 217 acres and two farm cottages. His fine herd of cattle had averaged a milk production of 11,000 gallons a year. Labour was hard to get and if he lost the cottages under the new town plan it would be impossible, he said.
Mr S. G. Stanbridge was owner occupier of St Agnells Farm in Hemel Hempstead - now Grovehill. His model farm attracted young farmers who came from all over to see how it worked. Another affected farmer, Mr J. Shingleton of Wood End Farm, said his holding produced 17,000 gallons of milk a year.
The watercress growers also put forward their case. Hemel Hempstead produced one sixteenth of the country’s entire supply of watercress. It was a very valuable vegetable and relied in the main on the pumping of water from artesian wells, which were threatened by the need to treble the water supply for a new town.
Major local employer John Dickinson was also represented at the inquiry as the Apsley paper mills were included in the proposed designated area. The company pointed out the freehold would cost between £1million and £2 million to purchase. The company also employed 5,500 people out of Hemel Hempstead’s working population of 7,000.
Hemel Hempstead Building Society lodged an objection through its secretary Mr Frank Linford. He gave an example of one client, an ex-serviceman, who had just bought his home with the society’s help for £1,800. Under regulations for compulsory purchase, he stood to receive just £960.
Mr Rowe, counsel for Hemel Hempstead Council, summed up with what appeared to be the root cause of objections : “It’s one thing wanting the town to expand as envisaged by the council, another for someone else to do it.”

It was on Tuesday, February 4, 1947, that the Minister announced the result of the inquiry - Hemel Hempstead was officially designated as a new town.
There was a change to the original proposals, however. Land to the north of the main LMS railway line was excluded - 2, 020 acres in all. Apsley and Nash Mills and the John Dickinson mills, together with Shendish, were also put outside the designated area.
In his announcement the Minister, Mr Silkin said there would be “work for all” in the new town and the existing residents would not be “swamped” by the 40,000 coming from London.
Alderman Henry Fletcher, chairman of the Hemel Hempstead Protection Association, was far from pleased. “London has burst the Green Belt and is to come sprawling into the outer country ring,” he protested.
The impact of the decision, however, was overshadowed by something of much more immediate concern for local residents - the national coal shortage which led to the closure of John Dickinson’s Apsley and Nash Mills on Thursday, February 13.
Half wages would be paid for the Friday and after that over 3,000 staff would only qualify for unemployment benefit.
The national shortage, in the main caused by a shortage of labour, was made worse by the bitterly cold weather. Cinemas were closed as they were not allowed to use power and West Herts Hospital had only seven days supply of coal left.
Other firms were hit and the Hemel Hempstead Trades Council drew up a programme of recreational entertainment for the unemployed.

THE MIDLAND STATION

Within a week coal began to reach Hemel Hempstead and many of those who had been left jobless volunteered to help unload it.
One of the ways that coal reached Hemel Hempstead was down the Nicky Line railway from Harpenden. But it was to be the shortage of coal that was blamed for the temporary ‘suspension’ of passenger service on the Nicky Line on June 16, 1947 - a service that never resumed.

THE SIDINGS AT THE STATION


The Nicky Line had, in fact, been one of the reasons why Redbourn was originally chosen as the new town site and if that plan had gone ahead it would have received additional track and a connection to the Euston line at Boxmoor.
Even when Hemel Hempstead was chosen as the new town there were many who felt the Nicky Line should be used to give the new industrial area an ‘on the doorstep’ link to the national rail network, but sadly it was not to be.

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