Oxhey Place

Fight to retain Oxhey Place as beauty spot

APRIL 21, 1944: The whole of the future of Watford and its status as a separate town is lying in the balance as the result of the two-day’s Inquiry held at the beginning of this week in the Council Chamber at Watford Town Hall, to decide whether the Minister of Health shall confirm the compulsory purchase order made by the London County Council, enabling them to acquire Oxhey Place Estate, including the beautiful Oxhey Woods, as a site for a housing scheme for 15,000 to 20,00 London workers.

A great fight for the retention of the estate as a green belt between Watford and the ever-growing “sprawl” of London was put up.

The Inquiry provided two particularly bright highlights.

The first was when Mr J. P. S. Davey, who, as secretary of the Watford Trades Council, represents 10,000 Watford workers, threw himself on the side of the L.C.C., declaring that the opponents of the scheme did not really object to the development of the estate, but to the fact that the site would be used to build working-class houses for working-class people.

The second highlight was the dramatic intervention of Colonel Spiers, one the the estate trustees, just as the Inquiry was closing, to announce that, should the Minister refuse to confirm the L.C.C.’s Order, and the trustees at some future time decide to develop the estate, one year’s notice of such an intention would be given, in order to provide the Watford Corporation with an opportunity of scheduling the estate as an area to be preserved as an open space.