About the Council
About the council
Some facts and figures:
- Council has c 490 staff plus some outsourced services
- Total budget of £60m gross, £14m net (£8m savings over last 7 years)
- 56 elected councillors
- Liberal Democrat administration
Some of our key services are: housing, benefits administration, planning, building control, leisure services, heritage, markets, licensing and regulation, community protection, waste and recycling collection, environmental health, parks and green spaces, Council Tax collection, economic development, and events.
Over the last decade, we have totally redeveloped our leisure centres, built a new culture and arts centre in Harpenden, created a fabulous museum and art gallery in the heart of the city, developed outstanding social and sheltered housing, and transformed our digital capability. We have just completed the redevelopment of a large area of the city centre to create Jubilee Square for housing, business, retail and leisure use, and are upgrading a number of our community centres.
With our partner councils, we are playing a central role in the future growth of Hertfordshire and working hard to deliver on our climate change objectives – find out more about our Sustainability and Climate Crisis Strategy.
There are enormous pressures on housing locally. We have 81% greenbelt in our District, and our proximity to London, together with our beautiful parks and green spaces, historic setting and great local schools, mean lots of people want to live here, so these pressures will continue to grow. Our Local Plan will play a key role in shaping the future of our District and addressing the issues we face, so it remains one of our highest priorities.
St Albans is a vibrant and culturally rich area. You get a sense of that as you walk around the city, visit the local towns and villages, and meet the local people. We have strong community cohesion and sense of place, with very high levels of educational attainment, civic pride and community engagement.
But we have pockets of deprivation and people in great need too. We recovered well from the pandemic, but, while we have a stronger than average local economy, many local people and business have been hit hard by the cost of living crisis and need our support.
Many of our staff live locally or within the county and have a strong sense of service and connection with the district. We have a high degree of staff engagement and good staff retention. Caring for our community, working together, and developing confident people is at the heart of our values and behaviours, which are underpinned by being customer driven and trusted as individuals and as an organisation.
Finally, what is distinctive about our District and the way we work, are the strong partnerships we forge locally, with each other, and with the public, private and third sector organisations with which we work.
You can read all about our plans and priorities in our Council Plan or on the website here. Key documents accessible below.
