St Albans Civic Society, a registered charity, fosters greater awareness of the heritage of St Albans. As a membership organisation that’s open to all who care about St Albans, we campaign for the retention and enhancement of everything that gives our city its special character.
- We encourage the highest standard of design in new developments and contest inappropriate development proposals
- We champion sustainability and positive environmental impact
- We stimulate interest and informed debate amongst residents, developers and the Council
Run by volunteers, through an elected committee and advisory groups, we are always keen to hear from people who want to join us, maybe to offer to help, or just to show you support our aims.
We offer, above all, a chance to be involved and have a say in what our city looks like and how it functions.
We are members of the national organisation Civic Voice, ready to welcome everyone who wants to help promote St Albans heritage and shape its future.
Awards winners 2024
The results have been announced and photos of the winning projects are shown below. For more details click here
59 Bernard Street
Saint and Sinner
Cottonmill Community and Cycling Hub
Blue Plaques
Fishpool Street
Hidden House
The Awards showcase projects large and small which have been completed within the city and seek out a new building, an extension, shop refit or restoration. In short, something that enhances St Albans and, for these Awards, was completed in the two and a half years to 31 August 2023. The criteria we consider include: Quality of Concept, Quality of Design, Quality of Realisation or Finish, Fit with Context, and Overall Impact. The Award Categories will usually cover: Commercial, Domestic, Environment/Public Realm and the Trevelyan Award for Conservation.
Details of the shortlist here
Details of previous winners here.
NPPF Consultation
In September 2024 the Government ran a consultation on proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework. We submitted a detailed response to the questions which you can see here.
We welcome the opportunity to comment on the proposals for reform and recognise that there is an urgent need both to build more homes and to increase the amount of affordable and social housing. Our main disagreement with the proposals is the insistence on the new “standard method” of calculating housing targets for the highly variable environments of councils throughout the country. St Albans is probably at the extreme of variability as over 81% of the District is Green Belt and it is a commuter town where the majority of residents do not work there. The city itself has about 25% Conservation Area.
Local Plan Consultation
St Albans has the dubious distinction of having the oldest Local Plan in the country so it is good to know that the Council is preparing a new Plan. The current draft was out for Regulation 18 Consultation with a closing date for comments of 25th September 2023. Our main concerns relate to the lack of ambition, particularly in relation to the City Centre where, although the draft plan refers to a City Centre Vision, such a vision is absent. Why no reference to urban tree planting or provision of water fountains in the centre? Imprecise and subjective language will not provide clarity on what is expected of developers. Our full response is available here. There is a long way to go before the Plan is finalised. After considering all the responses to the consultation a revised draft will be subject to further consultation next summer and then there will be a public examination and, if all goes to plan, the new Local Plan will be adopted by December 2025. So there will be further opportunities to have our say, but there remains a concern about the period until then when we have to rely on the outdated 1994 Plan.
The Mayor opens the Tower for 2024
Clock Tower 2024 season concludes
The Clock Tower is unique in the country and still serves as a popular informal meeting place in the heart of the city of St Albans. Volunteers from the Civic Society and the St Albans & Hertfordshire Architectural & Archaeological Society, open the Tower to visitors on weekends and bank holidays from Easter to the end of September. For more information about the Clock Tower, click here
We have a valued group of people (known as Clockateers) who help us open the Clock Tower to the public, and anyone who could give a couple of hours at weekends would be very welcome. Visitors come from around the world and it is very rewarding to meet the variety of people who come to climb the 93 spiral steps to the top. More volunteers are always welcome, please contact secretary@stalbanscivicsociety.com
Privacy Policy
St Albans Civic Society (‘the Society’) is committed to protecting the privacy and personal information of our members. This privacy policy is about the information that we hold from which individuals can be identified (‘Personal Data’); how we deal with Personal Data; and who we may share it with. You can download the Privacy Policy Statement here
NEWSLETTER
Click on the image below to download our latest newsletter
Blue Plaques St Albans
Over the last couple of years the Blue Plaques St Albans group have been working to establish a scheme to commemorate famous citizens who have lived and worked in St Albans, with the aim of placing ‘blue plaques’ on buildings associated with their lives. The initiative resembles the well-known blue plaque scheme run by English Heritage in London.
Plaques installed so far
- John Ball
- Nathaniel Cotton
- Elsie Toms
- Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
- Percival Blow
- Ted Warner
- Stephen Hawking
- Frederick Sander
- ER Hughes
- Arthur Melbourne-Cooper
- Betty Entwistle
- Thomas Kitchin
To find out more about these plaques, the people they commemorate click here
What else have we been doing?
Some of the areas where the Society has been active recently:
- 60th Anniversary Grants: making available some funds for local schools, Residents’ Associations and community groups to use for projects that will look after and enhance the St Albans environment Read More
- Arena and City Centre Opportunity Site North: Liaising with the Council on their redevelopment plans, asking them to consider how the Arena fits in and not simply demolish it as was initially proposed. Read More
- City Centre Opportunity Site South (CCOSS): For the full history of our involvement with CCOSS, click here
- Planning applications, every month we comment on a few applications, examples include: illuminated fascia signs on St Peters Street, UPVC replacement windows in the conservation area, quality of design for new buildings at top end of St Peters Street, over development of existing properties, applications that are contrary to the Local Plan or the National Planning Policy Framework
- Government Consultations: submitting responses to consultation documents. Please click on the headings below to read each response:
