Councillors are set to speed up the development of the St Albans Local Plan after the new government signalled its intent to ramp up housebuilding.

The long-awaited Local Plan was due to be submitted by April 2025, with stakeholders on all sides awaiting confirmation of where the council intended to build the new homes that many feel are needed.

But following last month's General Election, housebuilding has been turned on its head by the election of a Labour government that says councils have a "moral imperative" to build more homes, announcing a return of housing targets that could see the number of new homes in St Albans doubled.

In light of this, the council has announced an accelerated timetable for the Local Plan, with a crunch meeting of the Planning Policy and Climate Committee brought forward to September 23.

Following a six-week consultation, this timetable could see the plan sent to Westminster for scrutiny by the end of November.

The council say they have made this decision to get its ducks in a row and mount a defence of the city's Green Belt - much of which is being eyed up by developers.

It also says that there is an 'urgent' need for new homes in the city, adding to the need to submit the plan sooner.

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Council leader Cllr Paul de Kort (Liberal Democrat, Harpenden North East) said: "The council must have a robust new Local Plan in place as soon as possible, especially given the government’s proposed reforms.

"A vast amount of work has been done over the last three years to bring us to the point where we have sites that could provide the 15,000 homes for this District that we were required to put forward."

"By bringing forward the timetable for the Local Plan, the council has the best chance of getting a new Local Plan agreed ahead of the government’s new deadline.

"This will set the strategic foundation needed both to defend St Albans District from ad hoc building on  the Green Belt and to set out the policies that will mean any future development meets strict guidelines for sustainable development." 

But Cllr Matt Cowley (Harpenden South), deputy leader of the council's Conservative group, said: "After years of dither and delay from the Lib Dems on the Local Plan that have created a housing emergency and left our Green Belt vulnerable to speculative development, we now see that for it was: a political choice.

"They have repeatedly failed to take decisive action on the difficult conversations they need to have - knowing that all along they had the ability to speed up that process. Our district deserves better."

Further reaction came from the leader of the council's Labour group Cllr Emma Turnbull (London Colney), who said: "The council's current plan chose to prioritise green belt development over brownfield and allocated less than one per cent of homes onto grey belt locations.

We were elected on a pledge to protect the London Colney/ Napsbury Park Green Belt and we will oppose any proposal that does not give additional protection to our environment. The council must do better!"