City of St Albans

From Vero - Wikipedia
(Redirected from St Albans (district))
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Other placesTemplate:See also Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox settlement St Albans (Template:IPAc-en), also known as the City and District of St Albans, is a non-metropolitan district with both borough and city status in Hertfordshire, England. Its council is based in St Albans, the largest settlement in the district. The district also includes the town of Harpenden and several villages. The district borders North Hertfordshire, Welwyn Hatfield, Hertsmere, Watford, Three Rivers, Dacorum, and Central Bedfordshire.

History

Template:Main The town of St Albans had been an ancient borough since 1553. It was reformed in 1836 to become a municipal borough and additionally gained city status in 1877.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

The modern St Albans district was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the area of three former districts, which were all abolished at the same time:<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref>

The new district was named St Albans after its largest settlement.<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref> It was awarded borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing the series of mayors of St Albans which had started in 1553.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The city status which had been held by the old municipal borough of St Albans was extended to cover the whole of the new district on 9 July 1974.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> As such the council could call itself "St Albans City Council", which name is sometimes used for it in official documents,<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref> but chooses to style itself "St Albans City and District Council" instead.<ref name=sadcwebsite>Template:Cite web</ref>

Geography

The largest settlement is St Albans, followed in size by Harpenden, with the main villages being Redbourn, Wheathampstead, London Colney, Chiswell Green and Bricket Wood.

Nearby towns include Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City to the east, Luton and Dunstable to the north, Hemel Hempstead to the west, Watford to the southwest and Borehamwood to the south. The district lies close to Greater London, at the closest point being less than Template:Convert from its outer boundary. From the centre of St Albans to the centre of London is about Template:Convert.

Governance

Template:Infobox legislature Hertfordshire has a two-tier structure of local government, with the ten district councils (including St Albans City and District Council) providing district-level services, and Hertfordshire County Council providing county-level services. In some areas there is an additional third tier of civil parishes.<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref>

Hertfordshire County Council is responsible for services including education, transport, fire and public safety, social care and libraries. The district council's responsibilities include electoral services, food safety, licensing, car parks, allotments, cemeteries, grounds maintenance, leisure and theatre facilities (in Council's ownership) museums, parks and open spaces, markets, street cleaning, management and maintenance of council owned housing, the administration of housing benefits, town planning, and building control.<ref name=sadcwebsite/> Parish council responsibilities include allotments, youth projects, leisure facilities, open spaces, traffic calming and community transport schemes.<ref name=sadcwebsite/>

Political control

The council has been under Liberal Democrat majority control since 2021.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The first elections to the district council were held in 1973, initially acting as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control since 1974 has been as follows:<ref name=electionscentre>Template:Cite web (Put "St Albans" in search box to see specific results.)</ref>

Party in control Years
Template:Party name with colour 1974–1984
Template:Party name with colour 1984–1988
Template:Party name with colour 1988–1991
Template:Party name with colour 1991–1994
Template:Party name with colour 1994–1999
Template:Party name with colour 1999–2006
Template:Party name with colour 2006–2007
Template:Party name with colour 2007–2008
Template:Party name with colour 2008–2011
Template:Party name with colour 2011–2015
Template:Party name with colour 2015–2019
Template:Party name with colour 2019–2021
Template:Party name with colour 2021–present

Leadership

The role of mayor of St Albans is largely ceremonial. They preside at council meetings and act as first citizen of the district. They are chosen from among the councillors but are expected to maintain a non-political stance, although they do have the right to exercise a casting vote in the case of a tied vote at a meeting. The role of mayor is usually held by a different councillor each year, continuing the series of mayors of St Albans which dates back to the first borough charter of 1553.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 2003 have been:

Councillor Party From To
Robert Donald<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Party name with colour 18 Dec 2003 May 2011
Julian Daly<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=24May2017/> Template:Party name with colour 18 May 2011 24 May 2017
Alec Campbell<ref name=24May2017>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Party name with colour 24 May 2017 May 2019
Chris White<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Party name with colour 22 May 2019 May 2024
Paul De Kort<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Party name with colour 22 May 2024

Composition

Following the 2024 election and subsequent by-election up to May 2025, the composition of the council was:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=Thorncliffe>Template:Cite web</ref>

Party Councillors
Template:Party name with colour 46
Template:Party name with colour 4
Template:Party name with colour 3
Template:Party name with colour 2
Template:Party name with colour 1
Total 56

The next election is due in May 2026.<ref name=Thorncliffe/>

Premises

The council is based at the Civic Centre on St Peter's Street in the centre of St Albans. The building was purpose-built for the council in 1989<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and incorporates an emergency bunker in the basement, now used as committee rooms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Elections

Template:Main Since the last boundary changes in 2022 the council has comprised 56 councillors, with the district being divided into 20 wards, each electing one, two or three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, electing roughly a third of the council each time. Elections to Hertfordshire County Council are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no district council elections.<ref name=2021order>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref>

Wards

The district's wards are:<ref name=2021order/>

Template:Div col

Template:Div col end

Parishes

There are parish councils in Colney Heath, Harpenden, Harpenden Rural, London Colney, Redbourn, St Michael, St Stephen (including the villages of Chiswell Green and Bricket Wood), Sandridge and Wheathampstead. Harpenden's parish council takes the style "town council". The area of the pre-1974 borough of St Albans is an unparished area, where local affairs are discussed by a City Neighbourhoods Committee comprising the district councillors for that area.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Parish Council Population (2011) Area (2011)
Colney Heath Colney Heath Parish Council 5,962 Template:Convert
Harpenden Harpenden Town Council 29,448 Template:Convert
Harpenden Rural Harpenden Rural Parish Council 405 Template:Convert
London Colney London Colney Parish Council 9,507 Template:Convert
Redbourn Redbourn Parish Council 5,344 Template:Convert
Sandridge Sandridge Parish Council 11,451 Template:Convert
St Michael St Michael Parish Council 477 Template:Convert
St Stephen St Stephen Parish Council 13,865 Template:Convert
Wheathampstead Wheathampstead Parish Council 6,410 Template:Convert
Total parishes 82,869 Template:Convert
St Albans (unparished) City Neighbourhood Committee 57,795 Template:Convert
St Albans City and District St Albans City and District Council 140,664 Template:Convert

Economy

St Albans has a highly skilled workforce, with the 4th highest proportion of managers, senior officials and professional occupations in the country. Nearly half of working age residents have a degree or equivalent qualification. Average weekly earnings are £724.40, 44% higher than the national average.<ref name="stalbans.gov.uk"/>Template:When The St Albans District has lower than average unemployment and the lowest in Hertfordshire.<ref name="stalbans.gov.uk"/> 2.8% of residents are disabled or permanently sick, compared with 5–6% nationally.<ref name="stalbans.gov.uk"/>

Deloitte, Spreadex, AECOM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Premier Foods have offices in the district. Sainsbury's Retail Distribution Centre at London Colney employs over 600 staff.<ref>Mapped: St Albans Economy Report 2011</ref>

In 2024 St Albans Market was awarded the title Best Large Outdoor Market by the National Association of British Market Authorities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Transport

The M1 motorway, the M25 motorway, the A414 road and A1081 road run through the district. The district has six railway stations. Two (St Albans City and Harpenden) are on the main Thameslink route from Bedford to Brighton via London. The other four are on the Abbey Line branch line from St Albans Abbey to Watford Junction.

Demography

In 2001 St Albans City and District had a population of 129,005 (50.8% female, 49.2% male). The mid 2012 population estimate was 138,800. By the time 2021 Census the population had risen to 148,167, with 75,167 females and 72,296 males.<ref>Nomisweb Topic summary TS008</ref> In 2001 there were 20.5% children, 64.5% people of working age (16–64) and 14.9% older people (65+).<ref name="stalbans.gov.uk">Template:Cite web</ref> 86.9% of St Albans residents are White British, 4.3% Other White, 2% Irish and 1.3% Bangladeshi. 71% identify as Christian, 24.1% as "no religion" or "religion not stated", 2.6% as Muslim and 0.9% as Jewish.<ref name="stalbans.gov.uk"/>

Twin towns

St Albans is twinned with:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In addition, there are friendship links with:

Arms

Template:Infobox COA wide

See also

References

Template:Reflist

Template:Coord

Template:Hertfordshire Template:Navbox Template:UK cities Template:Civil parishes of Hertfordshire Template:Councils in Hertfordshire Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=City_of_St_Albans&oldid=223849"