Not So Premier? A Test For Localism in St Albans

Author: Jacqueline Button

St Albans is a bustling market town 22 miles north of London with expensive houses, high end shops and a multitude of pubs and restaurants. It has done well in the recession with shops opening where in other towns they have closed although there are still empty shop units, particularly at the north end of the town. St Albans is popular with tourists and, although it is fairly well served by hotels one operator, Premier Inn, has seen a gap in the market and wants to fill it.

2000 years ago Verulamium was the first major stop for travellers heading north on Watling Street. It had, as far as we know, expensive town houses, a forum, basilica and theatre. It prospered in Roman times although, as no copies of Retail Week’s forerunner Vendere Hebdomas survive, there are no records of shop unit vacancy rates.

As an important trading centre and the Roman equivalent of motorway services Verulamium would have contained a selection of places to stay for all types of visitor from the luxury guest villa with en suite bath house to the budget hostelry – rooms for 29 sestertii a night with hire 2 slave girls get 1 free offers. As Lenny Henry’s Roman ancestor might have said “omnia princeps nisi pretium”.

Premier Inn is a budget hotel operator and it really does offer rooms from £29 a night and has a stay 3 times get 1 night free offer. It has submitted a planning application for a 4-5 storey 125 bedroom hotel with gym facilities at the north end of St Peters Street. Three empty shops (including the old McDonald’s unit) form part of the development site and will be revitalised as either shops or restaurants.

This is surely a good decision. St Albans is a tourist destination not only in its own right but also because of its proximity to London (where, lets not forget, a fairly big sporting event initiated by the Roman’s Greek rivals, is taking place next year). More tourists means more spending in shops and restaurants and on local services. The north part of the town will receive a much needed boost and a medium sized hotel will create a large number of jobs.

So everyone is happy about it? No, of course not. A debate on the Review website became heated as residents objected to both the location and the quality of the proposed hotel and, most vehemently, its design. Artists’ impressions of the new development are shown here.
And copies of the full planning documents can be viewed on the Council’s website.  The drawings, other than the fact that they are as bland as all artists’ impressions, don’t look too bad. Clean, smart and just a little bit unimaginative but not, according to the Review’s readers good enough for historic St Albans with our beautiful cathedral and clock tower. Oh, and those expensive houses.

Much has been written about the government’s proposed changes to planning laws (including by myself here) and, in particular, the concept of localism which is supposed to give councillors, communities and individuals more say in the development of their area. People (particularly the people of St Albans it seems) are sceptical about the new proposals and fear that the power promised to people to control development in their neighbourhood will be overridden by economic concerns.

Premier Inn are a reputable company and their hotels are popular. Some residents might think that a budget hotel doesn’t fit with St Albans’ upmarket image but they are ignoring the true history of the historic town as a trading centre and staging post.  Surely any development at the north of the town is better than none and the extra money the new hotel will bring will be welcome to the local economy. As for the design, there are some beautiful buildings in St Albans but there are plenty of ugly ones too and something plain and inoffensive certainly won’t make the balance worse.

The planning application has only just been submitted and it will be interesting to see how it progresses – with or without the input of the local community.