Foreword: By the time the Ministry decided to offer the houses of Austins Mead for sale, many years of decay and neglect had gone by. Austins Mead today is a long way from what it was back then. Many thanks to Tony Allen for the following brief history of those dark days and the Community Spirit that helped build Austins Mead into what it is today.

Tony writes:

During the early 80's Austins Mead was released for sale by the Ministry Of Defence. Initially to service personnel, and although some did buy them there was little evidence that they wished to buy anything other than the more desirable houses. The houses were made available to the public through Flatt and Mead - the only estate agent at that time in the village, (now the house to the left of Costcutters).

 Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger version of a Typical Flatt and Mead Property details sheet.

The process was not that simple. Although you could register interest and collect keys for any of the houses you wished to look at from Flatt and Mead, they were reluctant to engage any further. If you wished to purchase you were required to write a letter to the ministry outlining why you felt you deserved one, and the price you were prepared to pay.

This led to many prospective buyers engaging in a price hike well over the guide price for some houses, it was not known who was doing the hiking!

A few of the houses had emergency accommodation council tenants in situ, however over a very short period they were re-housed and the houses fumigated prior to release. Some of the more responsible tenants purchased their house.

The houses were well constructed, but as they had not had any occupants for many years. They were becoming very distressed in appearance and any person purchasing them found hidden problems. Mains water pipes had leaked for years without attention due to vandalism, and gardens hiding trees growing up the inside of drain pipes were just a few. Glass merchants did well as most houses had broken windows.

Removing six coats of dust paint from everything inside became a laborious task.

The appearance of the estate started to improve as owners got to grips with gardens, building projects, and the sterile aesthetics of houses all with the same glass and panel front and back doors. All had Crittall windows, red tile sills and the same tubular metal side gate if you had one. The canopies over the front door arrived at by a concrete path started to disappear. Many owners started replacing the leaking gutters and soffitts and facia boards, believed to be asbestos (not evidenced) with plastic. To the eagle eyed you can still see some of the originals today. It was soon discovered that painting them had little effect. All the swallows and nests disappeared and have never returned to this day

Can you spot any of the original house number plates attached to all the houses at that time, if you were service personnel you had to keep it polished as it is made of brass.

All the houses were connected to a ministry phone system and the drooping cables ran along the gutter boards crossing house gaps by steel cables attached to hooks on the end board. What happened to the big black phones in each house? British Telecom started to re-wire houses to the ground system which over the years has caused many problems for residents as the cable is only just under the surface of the grass verge.

Trees along the grass verge also started to disappear at an alarming rate, which to many was NOT considered an advantage. Over 50% of the trees have now gone. Originally the estate smelt like a Cider brewery as the ever increasing number of cars crushed the fallen apples from the wide range of apple trees around the estate.

Click on the thumbnail below to see a larger version of a MOD Planting Map

Increasing numbers of new residents on the estate (mostly first time buyers as this was clearly one of the selling criteria) developed an adventure spirit, all coming to terms with the amount of work to do to bring these derelict houses up to a liveable modern standard.

All the houses had a coal bunker and store room inside the house (except the detached houses which were built outside). The back door was inside the house and it was not long before owners were fitting back doors on the outside wall of the house and extending the kitchen area inside by knocking down the partition walls and store room. The terraced houses had the same set up at the front of the house. Some were bricked up and a window inserted, or a second front door appeared. Hence the reason for two doors on some of these house fronts.     

All rooms had electric wall heaters apart from the lounge which had a fireplace with a back boiler for heating water. It became perilous to light a fire in the fireplace as the back boiler soon emitted steam through leaks and corrosion. The water leaks had caused serious damage to the concrete floors in the hall and lounge and this became one of the many ‘first jobs’ to sort out. The second was to install central heating and get rid of the electric wall heaters and attempt to raise the house temperature as the windows were freezing on the inside overnight. Installing central heating caused its own problems as the houses were vacant for many years and very damp, then over heated and warped all the floor boards. And they are still that way today underneath hard board.

Parish's coal lorry and a chimney sweep were regular visitors then as most people made use of the luxury of an open fire. Some still do have deliveries of logs and on winter nights you will see some chimneys smoking.     

Many generic issues emerged as residents got together for a drink on a weekly basis. This is still the case today but not as many people. It was not long before a Residents Association was formed, minutes taken, candidates chosen for election, and an AGM organised in the village hall.

One of the biggest issues was as a result of the council informing us that Austins Mead was a ‘ private estate’ and we were responsible for its maintenance. Many representations to the parish council and decorum council resulted in the adoption of the estate. This meant the non working street lights would be repaired, the blocked drains cleared, the trees and grass maintained, rubbish collection etc, and repair of the road surfaces. Most of the services you would expect for your then rates! This representation to the Parish council continued for many years until the estate became more established and people started moving on.

The opportunity to buy the vacant land in Austins Mead was presented to the residents association and resulted in the purchase of the centre play area and football pitch. This was later sold to residents for back gardens. This nearly became a bridge too far for the residents association but eventually it was achieved to individuals satisfaction.

Developers also had a slice of the rest. Mr Waterhouse purchased the top area of the estate and presented plans which set a president in Hertfordshire to build 30 houses on an acre of land. This plan was universally objected to by residents and initially refused but after an appeal was passed. These are the new houses at the top most part of the estate. Other smaller independent builders purchased bits of land and built houses infilling the original open plan estate. The estate bonfire night ended after these developments. The local fire brigade were always on standby for this event as the organiser was a volunteer firefighter.

Click on the thumbnails below to see a larger version of an OS Map of Austins Mead prior to the building by Waterhouse.
The other 2 scans are of Austins mead PRIOR to MOD building when this area were Allotments.

 

Now, the estate has matured and many houses have changed hands three or four times usually very quickly. The draughty Crittall widows have all but gone, exchanged for the more high tech UPVC windows and doors. Extensions front, rear and sideways have mostly improved the aesthetics of the estate and maintained gardens look good.

No one has ventured to change the roof tiles yet but the colour has, they were red originally.

The number of cars has inevitably increased and parking is a problem for some as the estate was never planned with these numbers in the equation, the limited road width resulting from an old regulation for ministry sites.

Today, Austins Mead is a very pleasant well maintained environment to live in, with good infrastructure, local resources and transport links (apart from the loss of the fire station). The Parish Council is still in place and willing to help if asked, which you pay for through Council Tax.

The only down side is the attraction it has for sales reps, parking problems for some residents, and the new carbuncle on the environment for society generally of Wheelie Bins permanently on sentry duty.

Please let us know if you have any interesting pictures we can include in this article. Contact Adrian here.