On our door mats this week came another edition of the Hemel Hempstead Shopping Directory published by the local paper.
It was published in conjunction with the Town Centre Management (TCM) of Hemel Hempstead. This body is very much an ‘arm’ of the Borough Council and it shows what can be done with a properly funded TCM organisation in place. It promotes not only Hemel Hempstead, but Kings Langley, Potten End, Frithsden, Pitstone, Great Gaddesden and even Tring in this directory get mentions.

Hang on, I must have missed the mention of Berkhamsted Castle or even our ‘street cafes’ that are springing up in the High Street. Are they ashamed of us or is the feeling in the town, that nobody loves us really true. Even the Town Council have suggested that they actually spend some money on the town by paying for a ‘skateboard facility’ if big bad borough won’t cough up.

The penny is starting to drop. If you want something in this town, you really have to get off your bums and get on with it. The Independents started the ball rolling in 1996, but the Lib-Dem organisation did all they could to promote the idea that we should always get the Borough Council to do things for the town. The web site is a prime example, it was promised to have all Berkhamsted information on it by January 1999, or was it spring 2000 or perhaps autumn 1998 - whatever - here we are in July 2000 and even their news pages are just a pile of press releases plonked on at irregular intervals (the sports centre re-opening was ‘news’ for two months!!). Don’t bother to find out about anywhere other than Hemel. In other words for Dacorum, read Hemel Hempstead

The recent Town Centre Forum was so full of excuses, that it wasn’t surprising that only a dozen or so turned up. You can expect a new ‘footpath’ alongside the service road at the rear of ‘Waitrose’. Just be careful of the lorries running you over as you walk on the new ‘footpath surface’. Two new ramps will be constructed from the Lower Kings Road car park to join up with this route and Waitrose have been kind enough to pay for an easier route to the post office, via 3 steps.
The Borough environment committee chairman assured the meeting that the grass cutting contract included litter picking prior to mowing and clearing up grass on the foot paths. Money was not available for more litter bins, but the thought hasn’t occurred to actually empty them more frequently. The forum decided that it was all down to residents causing the problem - such original thought!
The matter of parking and enforcement was also down to lack of funding of the police. It even was blamed on the lack of action on the matter of business crime. Having carried out a survey of businesses within the Town Centre, it appears that over 50% suffer from shoplifting etc., but schemes to reduce this figure cost money which is where we came in.