Most Recent Stories in Council

Youth activities and facilities across the area is due to be analysed by St Albans City and District's Local Services Scrutiny Committee on tomorrow (October 30). A presentation on youth provision in the District will be given by the Youth Action Group, which brings together youth organisations across the District, and youth councillors. In February, the Committee heard that the Youth Action Group was planning to set up a youth...

St Albans District Council is undertaking an audit of private empty homes in the district to find out how they can be brought back into use. There is an acute need for housing locally and Council Tax records show that up to 350 privately-owned homes are unoccupied. The council's new Empty Homes Officer is visiting the properties to identify what needs to be done to make them suitable for occupation. Armed with this information...

During the course of a major re-development of my house my Architect submitted a planning application to St Albans Planning Authority at the beginning of Oct last year for a small rear Conservatory and minor alterations to the roof line of a utility room and to increase its size by converting a Garden Store attached to it. The changes were at the request of the prospective buyer of my house. The Council had 8 weeks to make a...

Around 24,000 Hertfordshire County Council employees and non-teaching staff in schools are likely to see changes to their employment terms and conditions in a move to save the authority approximately £11million a year. The changes include the way in which staff are paid for sick leave. The authority and UNISON have reached an 'agreement in principle' to the changes, which are being hailed by the Council as a cost-saving...

St. Albans City and District Council is urging local residents to take part in the upcoming national census. The results of the census are used for a variety of purposes, including planning of national and local service provision and the size of central Government budget allocations to the council. The census, which takes place on Sunday 27 March, will record the age, sex, marital status and ethnicity of everyone in the country in...

According to a report in the St. Albans Review this week, "more than £340,000 has been earmarked by St. Albans District Council to pay for the part pedestrianisation of the city centre." The plans, which could be trialled as early as the end of this year or early next year, are bound to be controversial. It could be argued that pedestrianisation will bring more shoppers and other visitors into the centre, whilst others...

Herts Fire and Rescue Service is seeking a few good men and women to join the service as retained firefighters. Retained firefighters are a group of community-spirited men and women who are 'on-call' to respond when their pager bleeps, having been called into action by our Command & Control Centre, where 999 calls are handled. Many retained firefighters have other jobs and so provide just limited standby cover during evenings and...

There are just two days left for residents, businesses and community groups to give their views on St Albans City and District Council's proposed strategy for locating future development in the District until 2028. The consultation, which began in December, runs until 7 February 2011. The proposed strategy sets out the scale, location and type of development needed, including housing, schools, infrastructure, retail, leisure, community...

Consultation has begun on the Council's proposed strategy for locating future development in the District. This is an important consultation as it feeds into the core strategy that will guide development in St. Albans and District for many years into the future. The proposed strategy sets out proposals on the scale, location and type of development needed including housing, schools, infrastructure, retail, leisure, community...

In a bid to stem losses, and meet the need for a cinema in St. Albans, the Council's Cabinet this week made the decision to invest over £400,000 in redeveloping the Maltings Arts Theatre so that films can be shown there 7 days a week. The £400,000+ outlay will be used to purchase a 3D digital projection system, install sound equipment, create new seating, and make alterations to the cafe and box office areas of the theatre....