Councillors adopted the St Albans Local Plan on 9 September, replacing the 1994 plan the same day. It plans 15,045 homes and £750m of infrastructure.

St Albans district has a new Local Plan. Councillors voted to adopt it at an extraordinary Full Council meeting on Wednesday 9 September, and it took effect the same day.

It replaces the District Local Plan Review, adopted on 30 November 1994. The officers’ report to the meeting called that plan “the oldest in England”. From now on, planning applications across the district are decided against the new plan.

The council announced the adoption on 10 September. It did not give the vote count, and the minutes of the meeting are not yet published. We will add the figures when they are.

What the plan provides

The council’s announcement says the plan provides for:

  • 15,000 new homes at selected sites, including 1,200 homes for social rent
  • £750 million of new infrastructure
  • eight primary schools and four secondary schools
  • public transport improvements, green spaces and health facilities
  • new commercial areas “with the potential to create thousands of jobs”

The council has rounded the housing figure. The inspectors’ report sets the requirement at 15,045 homes between April 2024 and March 2041.

A large share sits on the district’s western edge. The Hemel Garden Communities sites, east of Hemel Hempstead, are planned for at least 5,500 homes and more than 50 hectares of employment land. Dacorum Borough Council is the council’s partner there.

Our St Albans planning page lists the twelve strategic sites and how many homes each is allocated.

What changed on Wednesday night

The officers’ report set out what adoption does. The new plan:

  • “would immediately supersede and replace the saved policies of the 1994 District Local Plan Review”
  • forms the main part of the district’s statutory development plan, alongside the five neighbourhood plans
  • carries “full weight” when planning applications are decided

The council’s Current Local Plan page now says the new plan “wholly replaces” the 1994 one. It comes in two parts, A and B, with a policies map for the whole district.

Councillors could not amend it. The report told them they had a “binary choice”: adopt the plan with the inspectors’ changes, or do not adopt it. A 611-signature petition asking them to reject the plan was heard at the same meeting.

The plan took a long time to get here. It was submitted for examination on 29 November 2024. Two government inspectors found it sound, with changes, in a report delivered on 21 August 2026.

“Not to be people pleasers”

Cllr Paul de Kort, the council leader, oversaw the plan. After the meeting he said:

“Of course, there are elements of the Local Plan that not everyone is happy about, but we did not shirk from making the tough decisions that were necessary and I am pleased that full Council has now voted to adopt it.”

He added that the council’s “statutory duty was not to be people pleasers, but to produce a Local Plan that conformed to the law and national planning policies, including the method for assessing housing need”.

The council published its adoption statement on 10 September. It opens a short window for a challenge in the High Court:

  • any person aggrieved by the adoption can apply under section 113 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004
  • the grounds are narrow: that the plan is not within the appropriate power, or that a procedural requirement was not met
  • an application must be made “promptly” and within the six weeks starting from 9 September, a window that closes around 20 October

The officers’ report says a challenge would not change the plan’s status on its own. That would take a court finding a legal flaw serious enough to quash some or all of the plan.

A replacement is already under way

The plan was examined against the 2023 national planning rules. The government has changed those rules since, including how housing need is calculated. The council says work “has already begun on another Local Plan” to match.

The inspectors took an early review commitment out of the plan for that reason. Under the new plan-making system, the council has to complete a Gateway 1 self-assessment for the next plan by 31 October 2026.

Timeline of the St Albans Local Plan: old plan adopted 30 November 1994, new plan submitted 29 November 2024, inspectors' report 21 August 2026, adopted 9 September 2026, High Court challenge window closes around 20 October 2026, Gateway 1 self-assessment for the next plan due 31 October 2026
Graphic by St Albans Daily. Sources: St Albans City and District Council adoption statement, officers' report and inspectors' report, 2026.

What it means for you

  • If you apply for planning permission, your application is now judged against the new plan. The 1994 policies no longer apply.
  • If you live near an allocated site, the plan now sets the principle of building there. Each scheme still needs its own planning application, and you can still comment on it.
  • If you worry about building on unallocated land, the council says the plan gives “much-needed protection against speculative planning applications”. Its figures show 3,777 homes expected over the next five years against a requirement of 3,690, including a 20% buffer. That is a supply of 5.12 years, a margin of 87 homes.
  • If you want to read it on paper, the adoption statement says copies are at the council offices and at St Albans, Marshalswick, London Colney, Harpenden, Redbourn and Wheathampstead libraries.

Live applications are on the council’s planning register, and we track the main ones on our St Albans planning page.

Sources