What’s On

St Albans has a Community Governance Review (CGR) currently under way and this will decide whether the city centre needs a local parish/town council. The second stage CGR consultation runs until February 23 2026.

The Civic Society strongly supports provision of a parish council (ie a town/city council) for central St Albans. We believe it would play a key role in protecting the character and heritage of St Albans by influencing decisions made by a unitary authority headquartered elsewhere and by managing some local assets and functions.

For that reason, our focus for the start of 2026 will be on campaigning for a YES vote for a
parish/town council and working with partners on what we think its future shape and functions should be.

The first events in 2026 were a series of public meetings as follows:
Sunday January 18 2026, 2-4pm at the Parish Hall, St Alban and St Stephen Catholic Church, Beaconsfield Road, St Albans, AL1 3RB. We invited the following speakers:

• Terry Philpott MBE, Town Clerk of Ware, who can talk about the positives of what a
  Parish/ Town council can do, having taken Ware from near bankruptcy to a thriving
  and innovative hub of the local community.
• Trevor Snaith, Unitary councillor for Buckinghamshire, and local campaigner for High Wycombe. He can share details of what can happen to a thriving historic charter town in the absence of a local council.
• Peter Cartwright, also from High Wycombe and with immense experience of the changes in local government and historic towns.
• David Yates, Chair of St Stephen Parish Council, with insights on local parish council roles, interfaces and influence.
• Mary Conneely, Chair of the St Albans Civic Society, who will give the St Albans perspective and update us on the vote and campaign.

Watch a recording of this meeting here

Tuesday 20 January 2026, 7pm at the Cottonmill Community and Cycling Centre, off Cottonmill Lane, St Albans, AL1 2EF.

Saturday 24 January 2026, 11am at St Luke’s Church Hall, 46 Cell Barnes Lane, St Albans, AL1 5QJ.

A fourth meeting has been added on Saturday 7 February 11am at Christ Church Centre, 3 High Oaks, St Albans, AL3 6DJ

What’s On for 2026

Our programme for 2026 started with the Community Governance public meetings programme.  These have now concluded other events will be announced shortly.