04 Jul 2025
The row over plans to build homes on a swathe of St Albans Green Belt land continues, with developers continuing to carry out enabling work on the site despite not having secured planning permission.
Cala Homes have already cleared a section of land between the A1081 Harpenden Road and the B651 St Albans Road of flora and fauna, causing large scale damage to an eco-system that connects to Heartwood Forest and is home to red list birds, badgers, owls, bats and many other protected species.
They want to build a residential development of up to 150 homes on land to the rear of 112-156B Harpenden Road, which will join up with the adjacent Woollams scheme of 1,000 new homes.
Now they have moved in with industrial lawn mowers during the ground nesting season for skylarks, and relocated Common Spotted Orchid plants in breach of council instructions to the contrary.
These latest developments come as they continue to push forwards with plans for the site, including asking SADC to take into account a reserved matters application relating to flood management.
But on Monday the application was withdrawn from the agenda of the development management committee in response to issues surrounding the unauthorised movement of orchids.
Committee chair Cllr Edgar Hill said: “This item has been withdrawn as on 24 June 2025 St Albans district council advised that it would not support or agree to a translocation of the orchids without the submission of a botanical survey and translocation strategy-protection measures as requested by Herts Ecology. However, the applicant has advised today, 30 June, that such works have already been undertaken and the translocation of orchids has taken place.
“As a consequence, the requirements of Condition 2 as recommended can no longer be met and for this reason the application has been withdrawn from the agenda pending the receipt of further information relating to this matter to allow members of the development management committee to fully consider this issue.
“Upon receipt of this information, a further consultation exercise will be undertaken and the application will be reported back to the development management committee in due course. There will be no debate or discussion on this item at this time.”
In response to the application being withdrawn, a spokesperson for Cala Homes said: “In preparation for approved archaeological survey work, a specialist landscape consultant carefully moved the Common Spotted Orchids to another area of the site where a fence has been placed around them to ensure their continued protection.”
Meanwhile, local campaigners have reported that industrial lawn mowers have been carrying out works during the ground nesting season despite ecology reports stating that this should not be the case.
Gee Smedley from campaign group CLASH, fighting to save north St Albans Green Belt, said: “The operator on site claimed there has been a survey and no ground nesting birds are present. Was this the same survey that missed the badger setts?
“There are skylarks all over the area, all fully documented by the Hertfordshire Natural History Society and the Woodland Trust, and the area forms part of the ecological corridor supporting Heartwood Forest.
“St Albans council failed to enforce any of the detrimental action taken by Cala Homes in October 2024, simply categorising it as ‘regrettable’. What is it today? ‘Unfortunate’?
“Cala either don’t care or don’t understand about the right survey times or the right ecological approach and clearly think they can simply carry on in this manner without properly informing the authorities.”
