'Don't take away our garages' say St Albans residents
ONLY a month s notice has been given to residents to vacate garages – some of them rented from St Albans Council for more than 30 years. Letters from the housing department have been sent out in the last few weeks telling people in New Greens, St Albans,
ONLY a month's notice has been given to residents to vacate garages - some of them rented from St Albans Council for more than 30 years.
Letters from the housing department have been sent out in the last few weeks telling people in New Greens, St Albans, that the garage site at Partridge Road is to be closed and used for "alternative purposes" in the future.
Concerned resident John Holland, of Carnegie Road, St Albans, said: "We are all surmising this must mean the site is to be sold off for housing but if this is the case, what's the rush to get us out? It's a bit harsh giving people only a month to move out."
Blocks of the 102 garages there are being phased out gradually.
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A spokesperson for the district council confirmed that garage tenants at Partridge Road had been given notice to quit as it has been decided to close down the site with a view to using it for alternative purposes in the future. Problems had been caused by constant vandalism and anti-social behaviour there, she explained.
She went on: "If there are any garage tenants who require an extension to this notice period the Council will listen to any reasonable requests on an individual basis and will allow them extra time, as has already been the case with a handful of garage tenants."
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But Councillor Roma Mills, whose ward the garages are in, said: "The trouble is that the garages are starting to cost the council money to repair, especially the ones that have been damaged by vandals. We can't keep repairing them and we can't prevent them being vandalised so it's easier not to have them. "
She said they would probably be demolished but she had been advised the land was unsuitable for housing due to the narrowness of its access points.
Cllr Mills understood that some tenants had been offered alternative spaces but did not think there would be enough to go round.
