Berkhamsted
High St/Water Lane redevelopment
General Comment
We
accept that the area at present is unpopular although when it was
totally re-built 35 years ago it represented the latest thinking in
design. If a cosmetic improvement were the object of the exercise,
refurbishment would be a cheaper option. The aim of this development is
to increase the use and rental income of
this part of the town by adding height to the buildings to accommodate
a bigger “supermarket” and over 50 flats and it is
this increase which will cause serious problems with traffic, access
and parking.
The Water Lane car park with Greene
Field Road is heavily used from
eight in the morning until ten at night. It serves the shops and
offices in the central area of the town and the older pupils from the
Collegiate school, many of whom drive their own cars to school, during
the day time. In the evening it serves the restaurants and pubs and is
officially regarded as the car park for the Rex Cinema. It is virtually
empty after ten thirty at night. Any local residents parking over night
have to move out very early in the morning.
The proposed development will
add considerably to the demand for
parking from the residents of the flats, staff in the extra offices and
customers for the enlarged supermarket which is likely to be open until
late into the evening. Although the number of parking spaces is
intended to be the same as at present (except for the loss of twelve
spaces in Greene Field Road), in practical terms an increase in demand
is the same as a reduction in capacity. The new users cannot displace
the existing users because there is nowhere for them to go. There is no
public car park to the east of Water Lane. On street parking is fully
occupied at all times, day and night. Except during the school
holidays, there is no spare capacity in Water Lane itself for most of
the day.
This redevelopment, as it stands, will be very damaging to existing
businesses in the town as more people opt to leave the town to shop at
places with good parking.
We appreciate that one of the problems
in planning the car parking
is the need for maneuvering space and height for the delivery lorries,
(soon to be increased in size), visiting the back of the High Street
shops, the Town Hall and the British Legion. This limits the capacity
of the car park and rules out a multi-storey option. We understand that
moving the supermarket to the west, closing Water Lane and making
Greene Field Road two way may help by reducing circulation space.
However the cost in environmental and traffic terms is far too high and
we are strongly opposed to both the closure of Water Lane and the
conversion of Greene Field Road to two way traffic.
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|
Water Lane area as car park |
