06 Jul 2025
Imagine you’re on trial for murder but there are only prosecution witnesses – that’s the analogy SADC leader Cllr Paul de Kort used to describe the current state of the Local Plan process.
In the concluding part of our latest interview with the man in charge of the administration, we move beyond local government reorganisation to examine two other issues: the Local Plan process and the new hierarchy at County Hall – both of which will have a major impact on the future of St Albans and the wider area.
Independently appointed planning inspectors Matthew Birkinshaw and Thomas Bristow are currently in the process of carrying out an examination of SADC’s Local Plan to determine whether it has been prepared in accordance with the relevant legal requirements and that it is ‘sound’.
The previous version of the Local Plan – which allows for the building of 15,000 homes across the district in the period up to 2041 – was withdrawn in November 2020, well before this stage in the process, due to a lack of cooperation with neighbouring authorities.
“To be clear, the politicians are well out of it, and it’s the officers who are working incredibly hard to answer the hundreds of questions from the inspectors, who are being extremely thorough.
“Everything is negative though, because anybody who is reasonably positive isn’t allowed to speak, and they only want to hear from people who are going to say negative things or question at the best – like a murder trial where you only hear from the prosecution.
“The first examination was scheduled for three days with a reserve day if needed, but that wasn’t taken which is good and we’re now nearly two months beyond it and still in the game.
“This means we’re in the best position we’ve been in over 30 years.
“The recent hearings were on the duty to cooperate and the release of Green Belt land, and because the inspectors don’t want a running commentary they don’t give interviews, so we can only go on the fact that it’s still proceeding, we were asked a lot of tough questions but nothing we felt was insurmountable or surprised us.”
Speaking to the St Albans Times last July, Cllr de Kort explained how the council had taken the decision to fast track the Local Plan process in the face of loud opposition.
“Accelerating the Local Plan does not evade the new housing targets proposed by the Government. However, if we do not speed up the process, we could be forced to delay submission of a Local Plan by two to three years in order to take on board the proposals as they come into effect.
“Importantly, this delay would mean that we would be less able to defend against speculative developments in areas which could cause the most harm to the Green Belt…
“Once the Local Plan is adopted, we will have to start work on an update straight away should the Government’s proposals for higher housing numbers come into force.”
He now feels justified in having taken that decision.
“We were told before we submitted the Local Plan that it was ridiculous to be going so fast as there was no rush, so there were bound to be mistakes, but then the same people were saying we needed to hurry up [because of the changes to the National Planning Policy Framework].
“It’s like a big sports game where the coverage beforehand said it was going to go one way, but the only way you’re going to find out the result is to look in the paper.
“The fears that were expressed have not been realised, although of course we’re not over the line yet…”
He is also less confident about the pressure to immediately start work on a follow-up based on increased Government housing targets.
“Well although we’ll have to get on with it there won’t be the same urgency as all of the original homes will need to be built first.
“[Any new Local Plan] will cause anxiety and angst, but at least people won’t think it’s coming down the road tomorrow, and I hope in this area there won’t be the land banking problems you see elsewhere.”
Having fought a war of attrition against the Conservative administration at HCC, St Albans Liberal Democrats have now found themselves in the contrasting position of working hand-in-hand with their county colleagues after seizing control in May.
So does he feel the conversation has now changed?
“It always helps if you’re associated with a party in power, because you just get listened to more.
“The only way an opposition party got listened to under the county structure was in the formalised debates. You know, when it was a case of we said this, and they said, ‘no that’s not right’, and then everyone filed a press release saying how they’d made this important point.
“Now you can actually have a proper dialogue and say there’s an emergency with this thing or that thing, and you can say positive things if something is working, which if you’re an opposition party you must never say publicly to the party in power.
“So it’s a more mature conversation. Steve Jarvis the leader has been around a long time, in some of the other executive posts are people who’ve been around a lot longer than me, and from St Albans Helen Campbell is deputy on highways, and new county councillor Ajanta Hilton is on public health.
“People forget that public health is out there and run at that level, but it’s got a budget of about £50 million so it’s not a trivial thing.”
Quite how Lib Dems at district and county level work together long-term remains to be seen, but with a 100-day programme of key improvements well underway the first signs are promising.
“There’s going to be a big kind of panel discussion on the issues there are around SEND provision, which do seem to go beyond simply budgets, and I hope a different approach to deliveries on highways issues…”
As always, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the Liberal Democrats have a lot to prove in the coming months. For Cllr de Kort though, his focus will remain on St Albans, and how the council tackles several major challenges during SADC’s final years of existence.
“Part of our legacy is to ensure we’ve got the very best deal for our residents.
“The one thing I can say to people is that there is a real housing crisis in St Albans – whether that’s homelessness, people on the social housing register or the cost of private housing – and if we’ve done something about this and not just built a whole bunch of million pound homes then that will be something to leave behind.
“There are lots of pressures because the Government really just wants to build, and the developers know this, but we’re the party speaking up for local residents and communities and want them to have a decent lifestyle in a place like this, and that’s our biggest challenge for the next two and a half years before the end of SADC.”
