There’s an ugly old car park behind the shops, between the river and the railway. The council has big plans for it and the community is already mobilising against it. What do we know so far?
1. It’s a big project and it’s going to be politically explosive
Hertsmere Borough Council owns the land and will manage the project. Planning permission hasn’t been obtained yet and, incidentally, the council is also the planning authority. Governance of this project is going to be a hot topic. A committee of senior Hertsmere councillors and officials, led by Chief Executive Donald Graham and finance and property portfolio holder Councillor John Graham has been appointed to supervise the scheme through to construction. Transparency and propriety are going to be hugely important. Everybody in the area will be paying attention.
2. It’s going to be a big shop with a hotel above it
It’ll be a no-frills hotel. A Premier Inn-style joint with no on-site catering, although the retail unit could include a cafe. Guests will, of course, also be able to use local restaurants and shops.
3. It’s all about the money
A local authority sitting on 5,000 square metres of land in a location like this would probably be irresponsible not to try to boost its yield – especially when their numbers suggest it is under-used. The swingeing cuts in local government funding are real and add to the pressure. The document presented to the council’s executive (PDF) makes a lot of the need for funds and uses government cuts as an argument for maximising the income from the land by retaining ownership of the project and partnering with a developer rather than just selling the land.
4. There’s risk – for the authority and for the community
The provisional plans have some sketchy numbers for return on investment and there are obviously no guarantees for the success of a big new shop (some people say it’ll be an Aldi) and a hotel. The proposed approach sees the council taking on more risk than if they simply sold the land. There may also be substantial borrowing. Hertsmere is not a big authority and doesn’t have much slack. This won’t be a walk in the park.
5. We’re all going to be talking about the parking
Newberries car park has 216 places and, according to the council, an occupancy rate of 60%. So, on average, 130 of the available spaces are used at any one time. That leaves 86 spaces for the use of the 80-room hotel. More spaces are planned as part of the development, for the shop mainly. Whatever happens, it’s going to be tight, even on an average day. And all that’s before we’ve even thought about access to the site and extra traffic.
6. The land floods
Everybody remembers the car park under water as recently as 2014. The car park is part of an area that’s meant to be allowed to flood when the river overflows. Elaborate measures will have to be taken to make the development comply with the Environment Agency’s rules. The council’s response is to build the shop and the hotel on stilts. Does that sound viable? Quite possibly. Does it sound unproblematic? No.
7. There’s already opposition from the community.
Local campaigner Clive Glover has written a detailed objection in the Radlett Village Facebook Group (you may need to be a member of the group to see this). He questions the business case and asks important questions about capacity and access. We’ll hear a lot more of this. There’s talk of a petition and a public meeting.
And there’s going to be a lot more to this project. It’s certainly the biggest individual development in Radlett in the eighteen years I’ve lived here. It’s bound to cause a big fuss in the village. No one’s automatically against development and we, like all communities, expect our local authorities to get the best possible return on their assets but we also expect plans like this to respect the needs of the community and not steamroller existing businesses. The obvious potential for conflict of interest in this development is going to make it particularly tricky for officials and councillors. The financial risks are potentially ruinous and the plan so far contains no new community amenities at all, beyond the commercial elements.
The council’s plans were presented to a meeting of the executive committee. Download a PDF of the documents presented (including drawings).
The Borehamwood Times wrote up the executive’s approval of the council’s proposal, based on this Hertsmere press release. A big story like this needs serious treatment from local media. This is a great opportunity for them to really dig in and devote some full-time effort to it. I hope they do.
The truth is Radlett neither needs a hotel or another supermarket. We have a hotel which is rarely full and surrounded by hotels all within 3 miles. HCC should be supporting local independent retailers as it is. We keep building more and more in Radlett which is all a potential fire risk yet we closed the Fire Station. It will create more noise at night and more traffic all other times. Nobody wants it and what view are the hotel residents to look at? HCC wasted £250k on a cafe we didnt need and will take years to maybe get their money back…our money! Cut costs by not wasting money and paying people for these ridiculous ideas.
Having read a number of articles on the proposed hotel. I actually think with the right work this will be a success. The Radlett Centre is starting to attract bigger and better acts so with a place for people to stay it might attract people from outside the area to attend and spend money in the shops and restaurants and then stay over. It could be used by commuters going into London as the price for the hotel rooms would be a lot cheaper that actually staying in town. Don’t forget we also have Middlesex playing cricket at Radlett and all the opposing counties and fans need somewhere to stay. Progress is a painful process sometimes but if you stand still and do nothing you stagnate and die. Hertsmere have a good surplus of money so use it and make the money work.
and we have a hotel which is never full
They have a good surplus of money do they? Is that why they need to borrow the £10m it will cost to build, and based on current rentals will take 30 plus years just to get the money back. As for the Cricket, how many supporters have said, “what a shame there isn’t a hotel in Radlett we could stay in”…wait a minute, we have the Red Lion!
Do you work for the council Mr Sedgewick?: Or perhaps one of the companies who stands to benefit from this white elephant!
Interested in who writes this stuff. (And where they live.)
From the Council’s papers circulated to the meeting held to discuss, amongst other matters, the proposed hotel/shop development in Newberries car park.
“Radlett currently lacks hotel facilities, the nearest hotel facilities are in St Albans and Elstree/Borehamwood.”
Do they know something about the Red Lion hotel we don’t? And the two largish hotels on the A41?
Hello
Can any one tell me who owns the road from Watling street to the Newberries Car pak