History of Sandy - Modern Times (1)
Much of the expansion of Sandy as we know it today, started in the 50's. Sandye Place was sold to Bedfordshire Education Committee in 1952, the Mansion House was restored and modern extensions built, and the site became Sandye Place Secondary Modern School in 1954.
The Great North Road became a dual carriageway, slicing Girtford and Beeston in two.
Girtford Manor was demolished in the mid-fifties, in order to accommodate a road-side cafe and petrol station, which is today a Little Chef and Texaco service station.The Little Chef chain has been sold off by its owners (January 2007) and under new restructuring, this site is closing down and will form part of a redeveloped Texaco Service station. The plans include closing off the entrance from the Sandy roundabout - the scene of many a near miss and accident over the years - and the erection of a modern service staion with full facilities.
The crossroads at Girtford, once controlled by a complex set of traffic lights, was simplified at the end of the seventies, by a roundabout, and the A1 has been "improved".
In 1973, Sandy Urban District Council, entered into an agreement with the Greater London Council, to erect 700 dwellings on 34 acres of an area of land between Sunderland Road, and St Neot's Road, together with three new schools. (the dreaded London overspill scheme, which has blighted so many East Anglian towns).
(Picture above is of the Sandy roundabout on the southbound A1 viewed from the north side.
Little Chef on right by entrance to petrol station, Holiday Inn in the background. Picture below right is looking north from the south side)
Three tier schooling was introduced in the seventies, Sandy Upper School and Robert Peel Lower School being built on the new estate, but the proposed middle school was transferred to Sandye Place. In recent times, with the development of 'Fallowfield', a new Lower School - Maple Tree', was opened on the new estate in September 2001, to accommodate children coming to live in the area.
Sandy Urban District Council disappeared in 1974, as part of local government re-organisation, to be replaced by Sandy Town Council
, with much reduced powers and responsibilities, housing being taken on by Mid Bedfordshire District Council.
Development has continued through the 80's and 90's, and where once there were parcels of land worked as market gardens, there are modern estates large and small. Even Bickerdikes Nursery has succumbed to the developers in 1998/9.
With the GLC overspill development came the expansion of the industrial estates along Sunderland Road. Companies have come and gone, changed ownership etc.(the latest news is that Mid Beds District Council are selling their ownership of the Middlefield Industrial Estate - January 2007), but today's make up is essentially light industrial units of small and medium sized enterprises, which provides a great deal of local employment.
(Picture is of entrance to Sandy Town Council's
extended offices in Cambridge Road)
Fallow Field has placed a further 900 homes in our midst, and the northern boundary road built to serve it (now also linking into Sunderland Road to offer access to industrial deliveries), will see further residential and industrial developments.
Modern Sandy is a mix of original housing stock, commuter-land estates and local industry in a still largely rural setting, the balance just about remaining right for its citizens. We still have three banks, a Post Office and enough variety of shops and local services to keep the quality of life at a sustainable level in the 21st Century.
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