MORE than 70 people
turned out in one morning to see the proposed plans for a European-style piazza
at the Rose and Crown Hotel during a public exhibition in Tring at the
weekend.
Proposals for the transformation of the landmark building have met
with a mixed reaction from the town’s residents and traders.
Innes Gray from
Consensus Planning, who is heading the project, was at the exhibition on
Saturday morning (August 6). He said: “Overall people were very positive and
that is particularly encouraging. We had a very good turn out.”
Out of the
one third of visitors who returned questionnaires about the development 86 per
cent were in favour of the proposals.
If the plans are given the green light
by Dacorum Borough Council the High Street will be revived with a new look town
square.
It is hoped the changes will give the hotel a business boost by
reviving the look of its courtyard as it was 100 years ago. This will allow
space for shops and public access to the inner courtyard.
It is proposed the
hotel would be downsized from 27 rooms to 20 with residential flats and houses
at the rear of the main building. Each flat would have one allocated parking
space and extra cars could use the town car parks. Guests visiting the hotel
will also have to use the town’s public car parks.
Carol Lawrence from Tring
Market Auctions in Brook Street said: “I’m worried about the parking for the
flats behind the Rose and Crown. There is only one allocated parking space for
each one. If you spend a lot on money on a super apartment you don’t want to
unload your shopping and then park your in a High Street car park.
“Raising
the level of the road outside the Rose and Crown is a lovely idea, but I’m not
sure if it is practical because it is a busy road at rush hour.”
Under the
plans the road in front of the hotel would be raised to form a larger town
square linking it with St Peter and St Paul Church opposite, which could be used
for special events. Following the exhibition planners have decided to form a
Focus Group working with Tring Town Council, Friends of Tring Church Heritage
and High Street traders to decide exactly how the square should look.
David
Metcalfe from Metcalfe and Sons said: “I think it will be a great idea for
people to sit outside. I think the Rose and Crown needs something done to it.
They have some good ideas."
Innes Gray hopes the raised road will encourage
motorists to slow down and a cobbled surface is being considered to slow through
traffic.
Comments on the proposals should be sent to Innes Gray, Consensus
Planning Limited, 1 Verulam House, 224 London Road, St Albans, Herts,
AL1
1JB.
Pitch level plans wait for
funding
PLANS to level Long
Marston football pitch are in limbo while Tring Rural Parish Council wait to
hear if it has gained funding for the work from the Football
Foundation.
Councillors are geared up for the work to go ahead and have
pledged to pay the extra £5,000 on top of the grant of £10,000 for the
levelling.
A contractor already appointed for the work is waiting for the
green light to get stuck in levelling the pitch which could have ancient Saxon
remains buried beneath it.
Tring Rural Parish Council clerk Dawn Slade said:
“We are still waiting for a decision from the Football Foundation. We can’t go
ahead until we get the funding. We are in limbo. ”
The Football Foundation is
the biggest UK sports foundation funded by The FA Premier League, The FA and the
Government to plough cash back into grass roots sports.
Commuters must wait for platform
renovations
No revamp at station for 2
years
LONG suffering Tring
commuters will have to wait at least another two years before they see any
action on plans to upgrade the town’s station.
Tring Tourism and Transport
Group has completed the first stage of drawing up renovation proposals but
lots more work still needs to be done.
The station on the West Coast Main
Line provides little protection for waiting passengers during the winter months
but new plans are for it to have a cafe, sheltered platforms, a new station
office and information centre.
Tring Town Cllr Peter Coneron - head of Tring
Tourism and Transport Group - said: "For commuters it will provide a much
improved facility whereby if there are delays or you miss your train there will
be a place to sit and have a cup of coffee while waiting for the arrival of the
next train.
"It would make a big improvement for visitors coming to Tring.
They would arrive and there would be all kinds of information needed for access
to attractions in Tring in a little information area."
Other improvements
include better access into the station for all forms of transport and there will
be secure areas to leave bikes.
Drawn up by architects Derek Rogers
Associates the plans include provision for toilets, waiting areas and two lifts
for disabled people and those with pushchairs or heavy luggage.
Mr Coneron
said: "At the moment there is no lift and no access onto the platform other than
walking down a stairway. If we can get the lifts installed that would be a big
plus. At the moment people are encouraged to go to other stations if they are
disabled."
Now consultants, Transport for Leisure and Transport Regeneration
who are leaders in working to identify funding solutions for transport schemes,
have teamed up to explore whether the scheme is financially viable.
Mr
Coneron said: "This plan is to make it more passenger and customer friendly to
encourage people to use the trains and reduce the use of the car. People can
drive a short distance from home to the station leave the car and get the
train."
He added: "This is very much a concept scheme and not a planning
application." Mr Coneron estimated that it will be at least another 12 months
before firm plans are put forward for the transformation and they will have to
work with Hertfordshire County Council and other groups to do this.
He
updated Tring Town Council with the latest plans during a planning committee on
Monday, August 1. Cllr Nick Hollinghurst praised the plans. He said: “It is a
really exciting project. It really is. It is very important for this town to get
a good station.”
He added: “It is important that we try to cut down the use
of cars. I think the environmental problems are the most important problems we
face as a society”
Meanwhile the Strategic Rail Authority has put forward a
retrospective planning application to Dacorum Borough Council for the station's
temporary car park to be retained. A decision is expected to be made in
September.
Council fights to save BT
box
A public payphone
facing the chop by BT could be saved by Tring Town Council who think it is vital
for residents.
BT says the phone kiosk in Manor Road is used very
little.
But Cllr Denise Rance said: “Of all of the phone boxes currently in
Tring the one that is closest to areas where there is perhaps lowest income is
this one and that is the reason why it should stay.”
Councillors have decided
to ask BT to provide figures on how much the payphone is used and would like to
hear residents’ views on the proposals.
Cllr James Allan said: “I used to
live not 50 yards from that phone box and it was in quite regular use.”
The
number of calls made from BT payphones has more than halved in the last four
years. In total there are eight street based payphones in the Tring Town Council
area.
Objections should be emailed to BT at btp.authorisation.team@bt.com or
sent to BT Payphones, PP 06A21, Delta Point, 35 Wellesley Road, Croydon, CR9 2YZ
quoting the telephone number of the phone box 01442 822179.
Argos takes on hospice as pet
charity
A TRING hospice has
been given a massive fundraising boost by linking up with an Apsley shopping
store.
The Iain Rennie Hospice at Home has linked up with the Argos store in
Hemel Hempstead which opened earlier this year.
Their partnership was set up
through the national charity Help the Hospices which supports hundreds of
charities like the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home in their vital work caring for
people with life-threatening illnesses.
Hannah Asquith of the Iain Rennie
Hospice at Home said: "It is a fantastic opportunity for us. Because we are an
independent hospice we couldn't hope to get a big boy like Argos on board on our
own. We have got the opportunity to have fun with all the staff at the store and
really raise awareness about the hospice."
Staff at the Apsley store are
planning a sponsored fun run from Hemel Hempstead to the hospice in Tring to
raise cash in September. They also have five collection tins for shoppers next
to tills in the store.
White vans crash on
A41
TWO white van
drivers had to be rushed to hospital with suspected whiplash injuries yesterday
(Tuesday) after a high speed crash on the A41.
Police were called to the
smash southbound on the bypass between the Crows Nest turn off and the Tring
turn off at about 2.38pm.
Traffic police had to close part of the A41 for
more than one and a half hours while the wreckage was cleared.
The collision
happened after the driver of a Vauxhall van smashed into the back of a Peugeot
van which was stationary in lane one of the bypass for unknown reasons.
At
the time of going to press Herts Police were still talking to the two men at the
hospital trying to establish what
happened.
