A proposal for all district councillors to take part in a full and comprehensive debate over the draft Local Plan fell on deaf ears. Addressing last week’s Full Council meeting, Tory councillor Teresa Heritage put forward a motion calling for an Extraordinary Council Meeting to discuss and debate the Local Plan...
The housing minister has blasted SADC for failings in its planning process and ordered that any applications for non-major development can now be made direct to the Planning Inspectorate. Lee Rowley MP, minister of state for housing, planning and building safety, told chief executive Amanda Foley that the district council was...
A new district sustainability and climate crisis strategy which aims to achieve net zero by 2030 needs greater urgency and maximum public engagement to succeed. That is the warning of Green councillor Juliet Voisey in response to the strategy for 2024-2027, which sets out measures to cut harmful emissions and improve...
A new district sustainability and climate crisis strategy which aims to achieve net zero by 2030 needs greater urgency and maximum public engagement to succeed. That is the warning of Green councillor Juliet Voisey in response to the strategy for 2024-2027, which sets out measures to cut harmful emissions and improve...
St Albans district council stands on the precipice of approving another year of fee hikes and service cuts. Later this month, a meeting of Full Council will decide whether to rubber-stamp the cost-saving measures proposed by the various council committees, in a bid to balance a multi-million pound budget shortfall. Some of...
Motorists face a massive hike in car parking charges to bring the SADC budget under control. Last night's strategy and resources committee, which oversees finances and sends the annual budget to the Full Council for rubber stamping, saw costs increased by a staggering 67 per cent. Lib Dems and Conservatives unanimously rejected...
Plans to balance the books at SADC include charging under-fives to swim in the district’s pools, and drastically reducing opening times for the Verulamium splash park. Under proposals put forward by the council’s public realm committee, the splash park will only be open for eight weeks - six during the school...
SADC leader Cllr Chris White is realistic about the highs and lows of 2023, and despite the challenges the council has faced, there remain plenty of things that he is proud of achieving over the last 12 months. “Actually getting a Regulation 18 consultation out, in other words, the consultation on...
Could we be entering the end game for the completion of Jubilee Square? That is the feeling at the Civic Centre according to SADC leader Chris White. He told the St Albans Times that the latest hold-up was a technical issue relating to the penthouses at the project. “There is more nervousness...
In a revised and updated article, we examine Michael Gove's changes to the National Planning Policy Framework and his criticism of delays to SADC's Local Plan. To build or not to build? That is the question...
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