16 Apr 2026
Backslapping Liberal Democrats are celebrating St Albans’ Draft Local Plan entering the final stage of the national planning inspection process, but they have been met with condemnation from rival politicians.
The district currently has one of the oldest Local Plans in the country, leaving the countryside vulnerable to speculative developments.
But now for the first time in more than 30 years, SADC is on the brink of adopting a Local Plan after the last two failed under previous Conservative administrations.
The Draft Local Plan was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in late 2024 following a Regulation 19 consultation.
It has now reached the final ‘main modifications’ consultation stage, the final hurdle before adoption.
This means that the Government’s appointed inspectors have agreed with all of the central elements of the proposals.
They have requested small refinements such as the impact of updated data on school place requirements and additional detail on some transport infrastructure schemes, but not any substantial changes to the allocation or density of housing sites.
The news has been welcomed by senior Liberal Democrats.
Council leader Cllr Paul de Kort said: “For the first time in very many years, St Albans District Council now has a modern Local Plan document that we can use to fend off big developers who want to build on our Green Belt.
“Until now, we could only give limited weight to the draft Plan. Having reached this final hurdle, it now carries significant weight in planning decisions. This is a huge moment for the district in its desire to wrest back control from speculative development.
“Rather than the 64,000 new homes developers wanted to build, this Plan proposes just 15,000 in areas with the least valuable Green Belt land, saving our area from what would otherwise be development and Green Belt destruction at four times this level.
“The Liberal Democrat administration has consistently described delivering a robust Local Plan as a top priority, recognising its essential role in protecting our vital green spaces, guiding sustainable development, and giving residents greater confidence and certainty that the right infrastructure needed to support this growth will be delivered.
“This major achievement shows that we were right to resist all those who wanted us to slow down the Local Plan process – including Conservative, Labour and Green Party councillors.
“The Plan will now proceed through the final consultation process before formal adoption, expected by the middle of the year.”
St Albans MP Daisy Cooper said: “In the face of top-down housing targets imposed by this Labour Government, just like the Conservatives before them, it’s a major achievement that our Lib Dem district council has reached this milestone.
“Every local authority has to work within the planning system we have, not the one we might want – and that is what St Albans district has had to do.
“In the face of the Government’s flawed planning reforms and hiked up housing targets, this draft Plan is a shield against a developer free-for-all.
“Months ago, I asked the Government to give St Albans district Local Plan the extra ‘weight’ it needed to do this. It’s disappointing that the Government refused to accelerate the process, despite St Albans district council pulling out all the stops on its side. Thankfully however, the council has now reached this major milestone and are just one step away from the Local Plan being adopted.”
And Harpenden MP Victoria Collins added: “We Lib Dems – both locally and in Parliament – have been fighting for a planning system that delivers for local communities: that meets our needs, delivers vital infrastructure alongside new developments, and preserves our green spaces.
“Whilst the top-down Westminster-led planning system has continued to hinder these efforts, this Local Plan is focused on delivering for local people and protecting our area from speculative development.
“Where previous Conservative administrations failed, it’s through a lot of hard work that our Lib Dem district council has got this draft Plan to its final stages and thereby secured added protections for our green spaces. As Government policies like the grey belt continue to undermine those efforts, I’ll continue to campaign in Parliament for more local powers.”
However, St Albans district faces a 70 per cent increase in mandatory housing targets under new Government directives, rising from 15,000 to over 23,000 new homes by 2041.
This massive surge, intended to tackle the housing crisis, places further pressure on the district’s Green Belt, with potential for extensive development on sites previously considered protected. It is suggested that no sooner has the current Local Plan been approved that SADC will have to start working on a new one.
This week’s announcement from the Lib Dems has been met with strong words from local opposition councillors, who claim far from saving the Green Belt, the SADC administration is enabling its destruction.
Labour councillor Mike Hobday said: “It’s outrageously cheeky of St Albans Liberal Democrats to pretend to be saviours of the local Green Belt. Well over half the homes they propose in their new Local Plan are on Green Belt or green field land. St Albans Council is the biggest enabler of Green Belt destruction.
“It has repeatedly declined opportunities to prioritise brownfield land or previously developed land in the Green Belt.
“Open green land like the London Colney Green Belt at Shenley Lane, south of Napsbury Park, is a vital community resource. The most important Green Belt is the part we have access to. Yet this is the land that the Liberal Democrats repeatedly say they want to build over.
“When this dreadful Plan comes to a vote at St Albans council, Labour councillors will vote against it.”
Conservative group leader Cllr Matt Cowley said: “Once again, the Lib Dem administration wants us all to pat them on the back for achieving the bare minimum we should expect from the council. Years of their dither and delay has left our Green Belt vulnerable to speculative development, whilst simultaneously leaving local people facing the brunt of a housing crisis.
“It may sound good on leaflets, but the reality is that this Plan will do very little to protect our countryside and almost nothing to unlock the brownfield sites which should be taking much more of the load of development.
“And it will all be very short term – with their dither and delay meaning we will have to start a new Plan almost immediately to deliver more than 20,000 new houses.
“The Lib Dems might consider this a job well done. That should tell you all you need to know about their leadership of the council.”
Greens and Independent group leader Cllr Simon Grover said: “As usual from St Albans Lib Dems their statement is one hell of a spin. This long, drawn-out process has been a high-wire act that saw the Government publicly name and shame the council and end with an extremely risky last-minute dash to the finish line.
“All along, the administration has mocked and dismissed any constructive criticism from opposition groups, while sheepishly refusing to stand up to bullying from the Government.
“We end up with a Plan that is already out of date and work will begin immediately on a new one.
“The Lib Dems have not pushed back at all on the Government’s ridiculous housing numbers for St Albans. The result is a Local Plan with 9,000 houses allocated to our Green Belt. That’s not protecting the Green Belt. It’s destroying it.
“The Lib Dems are also wrong to say we are building on the least valuable Green Belt. The Hemel Garden Community sites were rejected by the Green Belt Review as too valuable. We went ahead and allocated them anyway. That’s 5,500 houses on land that was explicitly identified as too precious to build on.”
