Years of developers being subsidised by local taxpayers has come to an end thanks to the efforts of St Albans MP Daisy Cooper. For more than two years Daisy has campaigned to scrap a Government-imposed cap on the planning fees that local authorities can charge big developers. In 2020-21 the cap led to...
St Albans district council urgently needs to start addressing new Government housing targets or risk being caught out by speculative developments. That is the call from councillors concerned about the lack of drive towards hitting the revised figures of the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) now that the Local Plan...
A consultation is underway into plans to install gym facilities at flagship city centre development Jubilee Square. The proposals are part of SADC's efforts to utilise the commercial space at the site, which was officially completed last summer. To date no businesses have moved into any of this space, although the council...
To use a football analogy, any decision on the St Albans Local Plan are now firmly in the hands of the VAR, rather than SADC referees. In fact, council leader Cllr Paul de Kort is clear that whatever happens now won’t be politically motivated at all, at least during the examination...
One of the key platforms of the national Liberal Democrats was a pledge to deliver 380,000 homes per year, one thousand more than the Labour Government’s own target to tackle the deepening housing crisis. The party wants to take an instrumental role in shaping the Government’s housebuilding agenda, with a focus...
Have sweeping changes to planning policies vindicated St Albans district council’s decision to steam ahead with its Local Plan? The Plan, which allows for the building of 15,000 new homes in the district up to 2041, was submitted for Government approval just two weeks before far-reaching revisions to the National Planning...
Liberal Democrat councillors in London Colney and Park Street have called for greater scrutiny of planning applications related to the Segro rail freight terminal after it was found significant changes to plans - including the felling of mature trees - were being pushed through planners as “non-material changes”. A chance discussion...
Campaigners against district Green Belt developments have reacted to the news that SADC has submitted its Local Plan for Government approval. SADC’s blueprint for planning development in the district for the period up to 2041 has been three years in the making. A public consultation was held recently to assess the Plan's...
No ‘showstoppers’ or ‘red flags’ were raised in a review of St Albans' draft Local Plan which would prevent it from being submitted for Government approval. SADC's blueprint for planning development in the district for the period up to 2041 has been three years in the making, and today it moved into...
The district council’s draft Local Plan is not fit for purpose, claims a local environmental campaigner fighting to protect a rare wildlife meadow. Dr Robert Wareing has been battling for years to prevent the development of the 12-acre Bedmond Lane Wildlife Meadow, which borders the whole of the western edge of...
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