In recent months there have been several developments with the proposed Watford Town Community Free School, which would be based at the Lanchester Building just off Hempstead Road. As such I wanted to provide an update on where exactly we are with this, and what steps have been taken to reduce any impact on the local community.
To give some background, we do have demand for additional school places in the Watford area, and indeed in the Cassiobury area. Local people want local places for their children quite understandably and, though Cassiobury School have already taken on extra pupils, demand continues to grow.
Therefore, to meet the demand for 2014, new schools are being established at both the Lanchester Building on Hempstead Road, and at Ascot Road. This is in addition to existing primary and secondary schools in the area expanding their intake, and other plans such as another new primary school for Bushey and potentially another for Central Watford. An entirely new secondary school has just opened on Tolpits Lane and a site is being sourced for a second, in addition to the University Technical College which I am taking forward for 2015.
West Herts Free Schools
Because of demand in the local area, and because I agree with parents who want local schools for their children, I am supporting the significant expansion of school places throughout the area, and do also believe there is a need for West Herts Free School to be built.
That said, while I am in favour of the school, I can appreciate concerns regarding traffic and transport in an already busy part of our town. The main concerns that have been put to me are as follows:
- Increased traffic through the Cassiobury Estate
- Re-opening of the footpath / alleyway behind the school
- Why the school’s pick up and drop off cannot be made at the front of the site
Though I have no jurisdiction in this area, or over these transport and parking decisions which are managed by Watford Borough and Herts County Councils, I have raised these concerns on a number of occasions on behalf of local residents – and some further information is as follows.
Increased Traffic through the Cassiobury Estate
- The school is aiming to be ‘car free.’ By this, they do not want any parents driving their children to school. The school body will meet with every parent and agree a travel plan with them to this effect which will be monitored
- To encourage the ‘car free’ ethos, there will be numerous bike and scooter racks available
- Where the child has a disability and needs to be driven in, the parent will be able to drop off via the Hempstead Road entrance, meaning that traffic will not go through Cassiobury
- An agreement is being set up with the Council so that the teachers and other staff can use the Avenue Car Park, so will not block Cassiobury Roads or come via that route
- The catchment area of the school is expected to be very local, meaning the majority would be able to comfortably agree their car free travel plans
- The school have agreed to work with local people and the Borough Council to enforce parking restrictions if problems do arise, though they will be continuously monitoring the situation in any case to ensure impact is as minimal as possible
- School start times will also be staggered, to ensure that any traffic which does come is spread out as far as possible
Re-opening of the footpath / alleyway
- The footpath will not be re-opened for public or continuous use. It will only be re-opened for the use of the school, who will have keys and the responsibility of ensuring it is locked at appropriate times.
- As the footpath will only be used by the school, and will otherwise remain locked, there should be no incidence of antisocial behaviour
- The footpath will be opened in any case, as pupils will use it for access to Cassiobury Park for their P.E lessons.
- Importantly the alleyway is not actually in Highways ownership, so in any case Highways have little control over the decision for it to be reopened for the use of pupils
- It is expected that the re-opening of the alleyway will decrease traffic in any case, as it will mean easier access for Cassiobury children who will be in the schools catchment
Alternative options / Hempstead Road
- No alternative sites could be found for a local 2 form entry school, the Lanchester Building was the only suitable site locally for this catchment area
- The option was considered of converting the footpath which currently runs from Hempstead Road to the front of the school, into one which could take cars. This was ruled out as it would have been contrary to design standards, especially as it would have meant three access points within 100metres all onto a busy junction. The previous access here was closed when the College’s opened because of these very concerns and the potential danger
- Access by Little Cassiobury was also considered. This was ruled out as it would require significant remodelling of the area, possibly also including a new internal road, which is prevented by the established trees which are protected under the conservation status. Similarly there were also restrictions with this option as Little Cassiobury is a listed building which complicates any planning applications even further
- The bottom of Hempstead Road is incredibly busy, and if this was the option submitted to the Council in their full transport assessment for the school, it is incredibly likely that permission would not go ahead and the school would not be able to open
- West Herts College have said that they are already struggling to meet their own requirements for parking, so using their already at-capacity car park is unfeasible. However they have agreed that any parking created can be used exclusively by the school
- The option of the front of the building was considered. Because parts of this land are protected however under conservation status, and parts will need to be used as a play area for pupils at break times, there are restrictions to this. Furthermore, it is likely that planning here would be rejected as the College only received approval subject to removal of this parking previously. Parking at the very front of the building is not possible due to the necessary yellow lines
Moving forward
I am visiting the Lanchester Building in around ten days time alongside the Project Manager for West Herts Free School. Whilst there I will of course look again at what other options there may be for solving this to see if anything has been missed, though I know the Council have already looked into this at length and essentially feel that the there are too many dangers and restrictions to enable the main vehicular access to be from the front of the building.
If you have any thoughts or ideas in addition to the above, do let me know and I will look into this further and make representations to the school where possible.
I do welcome all of the above steps that are being taken to mitigate any traffic impact, including those which will be taken by the school as mentioned above. I will also be raising these further with all involved, to ensure that they are as robust as possible and properly enforced where needed.
Yours,
Richard Harrington MP
*photo courtesy of the Watford Observer