SAPHRA
The Residents’ Association for Sopwell Lane, Albert Street, Pageant Road, Hart Road,
The Ryder Seed Mews Estate, Saracens Head Yard, Pearce’s Walk and Keyfield Terrace
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Notes of SAPHRA meeting held on Tuesday 30 September 2025
at the White Hart Hotel, Holywell Hill, St Albans
Present: Officials: Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Minutes Secretary
Plus: Cllr Juliet Voisey, 2 residents of Pageant Road, 1 resident of Hart Road, 1 resident of Sopwell Lane
Apologies for absence: 2 residents of Sopwell Lane, 1 resident of Albert Street, 1 resident of Pageant Road
The subjects discussed in the meeting were:
- Finances and banking arrangements:
Our current balance with Metro Bank stands at £533.83.
Metro Bank are proposing to charge us £3 per month from January 2026. Tim and Roger will compare the charges of various other banks and decide if we should move the account.
- Sopwell Lane Green Oasis:
Cllr Voisey chased up, on our behalf, the progress of the wooden posts. On 16 September SADC advised her ‘I have a quote for £1600 for posts. The posts will be 1.2m apart, stand 500mm above ground and be 100mm square’. Roger agreed with the proposal and queried whether they would be treated with preservative and if they would be set in concrete. We await an answer from SADC.
A couple of the newly planted trees have struggled to survive the summer. The kindly donated crab apple was vandalized and one of the young damsons wasn’t strong enough to weather the drought. We will be planting a couple of donated damsons in their place, around November time.
A date for the next gardening day will be announced in the next few weeks.
- Local Government Reorganisation – Unitary Authorities:
- St Albans District Council (SADC) will most likely cease to exist by April 2028
- Three options for unitary authorities (2 or 3 or 4 to cover Hertfordshire) are being considered
- Local councils must submit final proposals to the Government by 28 November 2025.
- Local Government Reorganisation – the unparished area in central St Albans:
- The City Neighbourhoods Committee (CNC) will cease when SADC ceases to exist. The CNC is of limited value but is the only body representing the city centre
- SADC has launched a Community Governance Review (CGR) to seek views on the establishment of a Parish (City) Council for the unparished area. All District Councillors, the CNC, residents’ associations (RA’s) and the Civic Society support this review.
- St Albans Civic Society thinks SADC is not doing enough to publicise the CGR. The Civic Society printed 10,000 leaflets about CGR, which RAs helped to distribute. Also, The Civic Society, St Albans & Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society, RAs and the Friends of Verulamium Park have been emailing their members in support of the establishment of a parish council for the city centre.
- Local Government reorganisation – Elected Mayors:
- Just as important but attracting less attention
- Strategic Authorities, led by an elected Mayor, serving a population of 1.5 million or more (so a bit bigger than Herts) will be responsible for planning, housing, transport, health, environment etc.
- Combined Central Residents Associations:
- Working closely with Civic Society on the CGR
- Travel & Movement Group are still working with HCC and SADC on a travel strategy
- TAMG also working with HCC and SADC on proposals for Victoria Street improvements
- Local plan:
- The inspectors have concluded that the draft local plan was sound and legally compliant
- Stage two hearings commence 14 October and will run until mid-November
- Parking review in Zone M:
Key proposal is to extend hours from 6 days until 8 pm (current) to 7 days until 10 pm (proposed)
- Also various tidying up of regulations, creating a few extra spaces
- Consultation has now closed, but broadly this is what we asked for four years ago
- Former Ryder Seed Hall / Proposed Moka restaurant:
- Moka restaurant applied for a Premises Licence to be open from 8:00 am – 12:30 am Sunday to Thursday and until 2:00 am Friday and Saturday.
- A hearing took place on 18 August
- At the hearing Moka said they would accept a licence for the same hours as the Café Rouge used to be licenced for
- A licence was granted for opening hours 8:00 am – 11:00 pm Sunday to Thursday and until 12:30 am Friday and Saturday.
- SAPHRA’s informal Get-together:
-SAPHRA held their summer gathering on the Green Oasis site on Sunday, 30 July 2025, from
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm. The event went well. New neighbours signed up to SAPHRA.
- Cllr Matt Fisher donated a second water butt to the site.
- SAPHRA Christmas meal:
A date, a reserve date and a venue were agreed for our SAPHRA Christmas meal. Cathy and Roger will go ahead and make a booking. Invitations will be sent to residents who have attended one of our meetings during the year.
- SAPHRA’s next meeting: Tuesday 18 November 2025 at 8:00 pm in The White Hart Hotel, 23-25 Holywell Hill.
- Any Other Business:
- Cllr Matt Fisher has been chasing up the matter of the “Unsuitable for HGV” signs that were removed from the entry to Albert Street by HCC contractors. We have been informed that they will be reinstated “soon”.
- Drivers have been speeding in Pageant Road. Cllr Voisey said that she will see if she can persuade the police to attend.
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