St Albans Cycle Campaign (STACC) is campaigning for people cycling in St Albans and the surrounding area, including  Harpenden, Redbourn, London Colney, Wheathampstead & Sandridge:

• To encourage cycle usage in the St Albans District 

• To promote cycling to play a more significant role in a balanced transport system for the St Albans District 

• To support, assist and influence to local authorities responsible for managing the transport system in the St Albans District.

Our approach is to work co-operatively with key bodies such as the local authorities whilst lobbying for better funding and provision for cyclists with particular regard to cycle paths & routes, lower speed limits & cycle-parking.

Contact us at info@stacc.org.uk

ACTON FOR ALL STACC MEMBERS

Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) has launched a Public Engagement on a proposal for a large 20mph zone labelled as Central and Eastern St Albans; this includes Fleetville and Cell Barnes.

The scheme drawing shows the pre-existing Camp 20mph zone as dashed lines.  This helps make it clear that this latest proposal would effectively make a huge swathe of St Albans into a 20mph area.

Not marked on the plan are the adjoining St Albans 1 (Central) streets, now a 'made' Traffic Regulation Order, with signage being placed.

Also not shown is the proposal for the Beaumont Drives area, being brought forward by Councillor Anthony Rowlands using his Locality Budget.

If you live in the area in or a nearby street, you should have received a notification from the Council where clarifies that for the scheme to be progressed there must be a response rate to the consultation of over 10% with the majority in favour, which is a very high bar. 

However, you do not have to be a resident of the zone, to respond, so we strongly urge all STACC members to respond to the consultation, and to encourage friends and family to do so too. Details of the scheme here, the response is here, the closing date is 27th November.

ACTON FOR ALL STACC MEMBERS

STACC and others have consistently campaigned for 'whole area' default 20mph, in preference to the piecemeal approach that Hertfordshire County Council have taken previously.  It is noticeable that the proposal areas coming forward have been tending to be larger, and here we have, at last..... a proposal for a whole village!

This is also a Public Engagement, not a consultation, and it is important to get a strong and favourable response.

We urge all STACC members to respond, and encourage your friends and family to do so too.

While this is whole-village proposal is very welcome indeed, there are a few points to note that you may wish to include in your comments.

• The section of Cory-Wright Way shown in blue (and incorrectly labelled as Codicote Road) is already 40mph.

• The section of Marford Road shown in blue is actually extending the existing 40mph further into the village.  At present the 30mph starts just east of Beech Hyde Lane.  Drivers have difficulty in dropping their speed by a mere 10mph here, so perhaps requiring them to drop to 20mph would be more effective.  It would certainly make life less frightening for people cycling uphill and turning right into Beech Hyde Lane.

• Sheepcote Lane is already 30mph, so should not be increased to 40mph!  We can only assume this was a plotting error, or a mistake by someone unfamiliar with Sheepcote Lane.  The sign at the Marford Road junction shows it as a cul-de-sac and the informative plate 'unsuitable for motor vehicles'.

Here is the link to the Public Engagement information; click the big blue tab to respond.  Please participate ASAP, the engagement ends on 13th November.

The landowner closed the tiny section of permissive bridleway on the multi user path linking Sandridge to Wheathampstead across the Heartwood Manor driveway in October.  It re-opened almost immediately when Hertfordshire County Council agreed to rewording of the Permissive Bridleway signage - the new signs are now in place, see above.

However the closure of the bridleway North Drive (to Oaklands College) remains with no off-road alternative. South Drive is also closed, but this has not affected the Festive Gift Show to be held on 11th & 12th November!

STACC has sent a letter to Oaklands College expressing our dismay at the lack of provision for walking and cycling and consequent disruption to the community's active-travel choices during the development works.

To hear about the problems caused by these closures, why they’ve happened and what’s being done about them, listen to this podcast from the programme Environment Matters on Mix92.6 radio.

The improvements to the roundabout at the junction of  the B651 (Station Road, Lamer Lane) and the  B653 (Lower Luton Road, Codicote Road) are still underway but expected to be complete by the end of November. The improved foot-ways and dropped kerbs for all the pedestrian crossing points are now in place, as are the Belisha beacons, but not the white paint, for them. The roundabout is currently being resurfaced during overnight road closures, with road-surface markings including the zebra crossings at the west & east arms to follow. Four solar panels on poles have been erected on the roundabout island for illuminating signs on it.

You will note that the roundabout is included in the 20mph proposals, see above.  So although we are disappointed that the scheme did not include 'tightening up' the roundabout geometry, the lower speed limits and the zebras should improve conditions for cycling through the junction.

A new planning application (5/2023/1923) for up to 190 residential dwellings on land between Colney Heath Lane and the Alban Way has been submitted. Two parts of the associated Travel Plan are relevant to cyclists:

• cycle parking will be provided at one space per bedroom in appropriately sized garages or sheds in back gardens,

•  two exits onto the Alban Way, at the north-west corner for pedestrians only, and at the north-east corner for cyclists and pedestrians.

Whilst we welcome the cycle parking at one space per bedroom, rather than one per dwelling, we query why one exit to the Alban Way should not also be for cyclists, as those wishing to travel west will surely wish to use it. 

Hertfordshire County Council has just closed the consultation on the 'London Colney 2'  20mph scheme.

Phase 1 covered the residential roads (mostly cul-de-sacs) in the south of the town, i.e. it excluded the Barnet Road, and the Traffic Regulation Order is now 'made'.

Phase 2 covers most of the rest of the roads in the village - the gaps in the scheme drawing are where there are already 20mph limits around Alexander Road and Caledon Road.  The exceptions in the scheme are the northern part of the High Street and Shenley Lane, and of course Barnet Road as mentioned above.

It is heartening that HCC is using this tranche of government funding to create 'whole-town/village' 20mph zones.  Preferably there would of course be a national setting of the default urban speed limit from the current 30mph where there are streetlights to a more people-friendly 20mph.