St John’s, Radlett

In 1953, St John’s was built as a daughter church in the parish of Christ Church, Radlett, to serve the new post-war council estate. A local landowner, Lady Phillimore, had donated land on Gills Hill Lane to the Church for a multi-purpose church building. A hall was later added, used for a community nursery. Both buildings were well-used by many community groups.

However, by the 2010s, both the church and the hall had exceeded their life expectancy as temporary buildings and were becoming expensive to operate.

After a review of options, the PCC accepted a recommendation to develop the site to serve better the needs of the church and of the wider Radlett community.

Providentially, the PCC treasurer was also a local councillor, responsible for Finance and Property on Hertsmere Borough Council (HBC). He identified an unused pot of money which had to be spent on affordable housing. The parish is in a very affluent area, with many new developments being for 4-5 bedroom detached houses.  The Local Plan stipulated that 40% of new homes delivered should be affordable, but developers struggled to put the social housing requirement on site. They resorted to making payments in lieu to the council, who had built up a multi-million pound fund.

Negotiations were conducted between the parish, the Phillimore Trust, the diocese and HBC on the future of the site. These led to plans for a modern multi-purpose church with hall suitable for the nursery along with six new affordable dwellings.

The building of the church and hall would be funded by the capital receipt from selling part of the freehold to HBC.

An early challenge was the covenant on the land, which required religious services to be held and forbade overnight accommodation. With support from St Albans diocese, the PCC negotiated with the Phillimore Trust to permit the building of social housing alongside a new church and hall; the Trust agreed on two conditions, that the church should be of traditional design and construction and the homes should remain affordable in perpetuity. 

The PCC appointed a member to be “client representative”, representing the church, the nursery, the hirers and the community. Ofsted requirements also needed to be met for the nursery, including outdoor space and exclusive use of the kitchen while the nursery was open. A separate pantry was added for hall hirers to use when the nursery was open.

TSG Building Services, a large building and refurbishment contractor in the area, were awarded the Design and Construction Works on the project.

The old church buildings were decommissioned and demolished in August 2021 in preparation for the redevelopment of the site.  Worship, the nursery and some other community events continued to be held in a large Portakabin on site.

The new church was dedicated on 15 October 2023; tenants moved into the flats in 2024 and the houses in early 2025.

The Church is currently used for Sunday worship six times a year, as the St Johns congregation merged with the Christ Church one after the pandemic. The local infant school also uses it each term, and many other groups use the space as it’s a warm, light building and parking is free in the area.

Watford Community Housing manage the three flats for Affordable Rent, and the two houses in shared ownership. The third house was retained by HBC for use as temporary accommodation for families.

The church set a budget for hire income, which was exceeded after just one year. It brings in enough to pay for an administrator and the upkeep of the hall. The housing association also contracts the church to look after the estate around their homes.

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The project was funded by HBC, without any cost to the parish (other than diocesan legal and professional fees). This was only possible because of high land values in the area and the fact that the Council had to deliver more affordable housing in Radlett. Their ringfenced pot of Section 106 money could only be spent on social housing, and this project delivered six new affordable homes for the Council.

The original budget for the whole redevelopment was £3.28 million, but it over-ran by £324k. HBC were able to cover this by accessing the government’s Local Authority Housing Fund in addition to their own Section 106 funds.

·       The church took a long-term view and were open to a wider vision for the site

·       The project may have never happened without having a local councillor on the PCC who could unlock the funding from the council

·       The local authority needed to spend their ringfenced funds on social housing, and the church provided an ideal project for that

·       The builders ensured that during the redevelopment, the congregation and community hirers could continue to meet on the site

·       One main challenge came from the covenant restriction on the use of the land, which had to be renegotiated before the project could start

St John’s has gained a brand new worship and community space, including rooms for the nursery. Five households on lower incomes now have either an affordable flat or a shared ownership house. Another family, who were at risk of becoming homeless, is also benefitting from high quality temporary accommodation.