Well, now we know the worst. The Berkhamsted Precept is £117,000, up by £43,000 over last year. This is the money the Town Council raises for its own purposes in an effort to carry out the wishes of residents. The Independents have been criticised for trying to achieve the impossible and the Conservatives have been vocal in their condemnation of the increase. With my extremely selective memory, according to Conservative Councillor Peter Ginger, did I imagine it was a Conservative who was in charge of Finance and Policy this year (& at the vital vote promptly abstained) and the Liberal- Democrat Mayor offered his casting vote in favour of the increase. I also suppose that the Mayors Walk (now the Heritage Walk) and the C.A.R.P. project, thought about during the previous Conservative Council, would have happened using monopoly money, as they had no real money to pay for either project. Just remember the current increase is larger than the total Precept just four years ago and the Town Council, and thus the town, is only just starting to reap the rewards of many years of neglect.

Those of you, who attended the Town Centre Forum on Wednesday 6th January, would have seen the start of the Berkhamsted election campaign by the major players. The 'road works' and the Kingsgate development dominated the last election; this one will be fought over parking and the REX.
The attitude of the Borough Council over the REX has not changed as it appears that it is OK to subsidise venues in Hemel Hempstead to the tune of over £500,000 per year in the case of the Pavilion, but anything else, if outside Hemel, has to be self-supporting. There was also a suggestion that before the end of the year; the whole matter could be academic anyway, as a proposal to turn the whole area into housing is well advanced, although as always, time will tell. Lots of claims were made on how much use will be made of the building, if it was restored as an arts and conference centre. The problem, as I see it, is if all this pent-up demand is there, just why is the Town Hall so under used? After all, within the year, at least 3 functions can take place at the same time with more to come. It's in the middle of town and available now. The idea of two similar venues offering similar facilities within half a mile of each other and in a commuter town of less than 20,000 residents really makes me wonder if either succeed.

That brings me nicely onto the other minor difficulty - parking. Following the logic of the above argument, the Town Hall is in the centre of town, with short term paid for parking facilities for shoppers, rather than visitors. The REX site, on the other hand, has its' own parking. Once again, trolling through my selective memory to when the motor car was not quiet so popular as today, I remember you could not move in the cinema car park when a popular film was showing, so what chance today.
The town is the only one in the Borough that has its' railway station within spitting distance of the town centre and related parking. Railtrack has thoughtfully provided parking facilities for its passengers right next to the station. Also, thoughtfully, has sought to maximise its money-making operation by franchising the facility and letting market forces lead. Neither the Borough nor Town Councils have that luxury of being able to just walk away from the problem. Thereby lies the difficulty; we have more demand than the Borough Council has land to satisfy this demand. Without a decent integrated public transport system, the argument is proffered that what else can the car owner do, other than use it. The fly in the ointment is that County control the public transport system and the roads, and they are over the other side of the county. Indeed, their efforts can be seen throughout the town, some good, mostly unpopular and generally not quiet working as intended.
Now parking facilities are a different matter, as the Borough, in consultation with the police and other interested bodies, can do almost as they like on non-trunked roads. The Town Council is involved in a study to bring forward proposals to improve the on street parking within the town, with a look at residents parking in the conservation area. Complaints have been received by both Councils that commuters and other all day parkers are clogging up side streets and areas such as Kings Road and Charles Street are occupied by shop/office workers or even pupils attending a well known school (according to whom, doesn't happen).
At the Town Centre Forum, the Borough officers admitted that mistakes had been made with the St Johns Well Lane Car Park and alternative schemes will be presented to the Borough Environment Committee in late January. In the best tradition of local government, the Town Council was not even advised of the change of heart. The idea is to increase the number of all day parking spaces in that car park, but would you pay to park all day when you have just found a nice area for free? I think that just tinkering will not satisfy us, more imaginative schemes must be found and they will not be cheap.

Those of you who drive up Hilltop Road and gaze at the wondrous contraption on the block of flats near Falcon Ridge, will be thinking to yourselves, 'there it was - there is isn't - there, it's different'. Executed with the usual efficiency of the planning department, the Mercury transmitter system was installed on the flat roof of the building. Unfortunately, someone forgot that flat roofs need renewing every few years. In order to carry out the work, the 'tin can' had to be removed, the roofing renewed and the whole lot replaced. The 'matching' brick finish has disappeared and even more ironwork been installed. I trust when the roofing has been completed, the brick finish will be replaced and the new metal handrail removed. Planning dept. please note!