01/05/2026
Please read re SEGRO. Our cars are now continually covered in dust. We are looking at forming a group of leads from the local residents associations to approach SEGRO. This is where we need support form the community.
Dear Mr Gilhooly,
I am writing on behalf of the residents of Park Street, Frogmore, Curo Park, Watling Street and surrounding areas to register a formal and urgent complaint regarding the wholly unacceptable conditions now being imposed upon our community as a direct result of operations at the SEGRO development site.
Residents are experiencing a relentless and escalating assault on their daily lives from the constant use of pile drivers, jackhammers and other heavy construction machinery. Fine dust, dirt and debris generated by these activities are now regularly covering residents’ vehicles, properties and outdoor areas, leaving people to clean up after a mess that is not of their making.
Far more concerning, however, is the effect this dust is having on the air we are breathing. The visible dirt settling across the neighborhood is clear evidence that airborne particulates are being dispersed into residential streets on a daily basis. Families, elderly residents and children are therefore being subjected—without warning or protection—to what can only be described as an unhealthy and potentially hazardous atmosphere.
In addition to the dust nuisance, the incessant hammering, drilling and pile-driving noise has become intolerable. Those living in Curo Park and properties along Watling Street are particularly badly affected, but the disturbance is now being heard as far afield as parts of Chiswell Green. This is not occasional inconvenience; it is sustained disruption that is materially damaging residents’ ability to work from home, rest, enjoy their homes, or live in reasonable peace.
Residents have already shown considerable patience in enduring the prolonged road closures, diversions, traffic disruption and daily time loss caused by this development. However, the latest escalation in dust pollution and construction noise has pushed matters beyond what any reasonable community should be expected to tolerate.
We therefore require SEGRO to answer, as a matter of urgency, the following:
What immediate measures are being put in place to suppress and contain the dust and airborne debris emanating from the site?
What environmental monitoring is currently being undertaken in relation to airborne particulates and potential health risks to nearby residents?
What steps will be taken to reduce the excessive noise generated by pile driving, jackhammering and similar operations?
Why have residents not been properly forewarned of the scale and intensity of these works?
What compensation, cleaning assistance, mitigation measures or other practical remedies does SEGRO intend to offer to the residents whose quality of life has been severely affected?
At present, residents feel that they are being expected simply to absorb the consequences of this project while SEGRO proceeds without adequate regard for those living around the site. This is unacceptable.
Unless immediate and visible remedial action is taken, residents will have little option but to escalate this matter formally through St Albans City and District Council Environmental Health, the local planning authority, elected representatives, and where necessary the Health and Safety Executive and local media.
We request a full written response within seven days setting out precisely what SEGRO intends to do to address these serious concerns and to restore some measure of tolerable living conditions to the affected neighborhood
The residents of Park Street and Frogmore have been patient. That patience is now exhausted.
Yours faithfully,
Paul Blakeley
