20 Feb 2026
Whether SADC will proceed with long-delayed capital development projects three years after they were placed on hiatus has now been revealed.
In 2023, St Albans district council carried out a strategic review of its major development projects in light of difficult economic conditions facing the authority at the time.
A report on SADC’s capital regeneration plans was presented to the regeneration and business committee at the end of January, which said a number of projects would be paused and some stopped altogether in order to control unprecedented increasing costs beyond what could be reasonably foreseen.
Chair Cllr Robert Donald said at the time: “We have been confronted with some very hard choices in our development programme because of the sudden and unexpected deterioration in the national economic outlook over the last few months.
“The general inflation rate has soared above 10 per cent while the costs of many building materials and building contracts have risen even more than that alarming figure. There have also been above inflation increases in supply chain costs.
“As a district council, we are required by law to produce a balanced budget, ensuring that our projected spending does not exceed our income.
“If we didn’t take action to make savings or increase revenues, our budget gap for the next financial year, 2023/24, would be over £2 million, a huge figure for a district council of our size.
“As a result, we have had to review our development projects along with all our other activities and update our property investment strategy for 2023/24.
“This has inevitably led to us putting some projects on the back burner and ceasing a couple altogether. This is obviously very disappointing for us after the work that has already been undertaken on these projects but I am sure our residents will understand that we have little choice given the tough financial climate.
“We have however, sought to protect projects that deliver the council’s top priorities on providing social housing and supporting community facilities. I am very pleased that it has been agreed we can still continue with a number of these including some really exciting ones which are close to completion.”
The projects which SADC continued working on included Jubilee Square, which was eventually finished in July 2024.
But the committee agreed to pause the redevelopment of both the Market Depot site in Drovers Way and business space at 35 Market Place, both in St Albans.
Work to rebuild the Fleetville Community Centre in Royal Road, St Albans, was said to remain a council commitment but was temporarily paused while officers investigated alternative construction methods, new enabling development options, different sources of capital and future maintenance funding for the project.
Work ceased on projects to redevelop the Harpenden Public Halls site and the disused public toilets at 35 Spicer Street, St Albans, with the former subsequently sold to ChristChurch Harpenden (CCH) for use as a permanent building for their church.
Cllr Donald added: “We will not forget the projects that we have paused, especially the replacement of the Fleetville Community Centre, and will return to them with renewed energy as soon as we can when the council’s budget permits and the national construction economy improves.”
But three years later, and nothing has happened with any of these projects – so what is going on?
As exclusively revealed by the St Albans Times back in February 2025, local homeless charity Emmaus is keen to take over the market depot site, and SADC has confirmed there are no longer any plans for it to be brought back as a development scheme.
However, although the council has agreed to lease the asset to Emmaus, the UK Power Networks works to the adjacent substation have overrun. SADC is now waiting for the UKPN project to conclude before doing anything further, but the company is paying for the use the depot during their works.
A new commercial tenant is taking a lease for 35 Market Place, so again SADC is not expecting a development project relating to this asset, and that project has since been stood down rather than paused.
When it comes to Fleetville Community Centre, the council worked with the trustees to deliver a programme of structural and roof repairs, which have extended the life of the asset. The project therefore remains on SADC’s forward-look capital programme, but the redevelopment remains on pause.
Finally, the sale of the former Spicer Street toilets will proceed once homelessness charity Centre 33 – which occupies part of the building – finds a new permanent premises elsewhere in the city centre.
