Watchlist
Our city and its surrounds are always evolving, and on this page you’ll find details of some of the bigger developments in prospect. These are plans where the scale or impact on the wider area means they are likely to affect life in St Albans. Our Watchlist aims to give an overview of the prospective scale of change ahead. How might our city look, and how might it function, a decade from now?
Chiswell Green
Current plans for Chiswell Green, if fully achieved, could see an increase of well over 1000 new homes, very few of which are likely to meet affordable housing criteria. A handful of different developments will all contribute to this increase, with no known requirements or plans to create appropriate infrastructure – so no new schools, GP surgeries or dentists. The proposed developments, outlined in the image below, are at different stages. There is more information on the Keep Chiswell Green website.
Proposed Chiswell Green developments and number of units planned
The emerging Local Plan, currently going through the examination stages, identifies parts of Chiswell Green for development, but there is a feeling that opportunistic proposals have been trying to stretch boundaries. The Civic Society is monitoring planning applications, and will object as and when appropriate. We have also flagged issues with the design quality of some of the larger developments.
Woollam Park
Off the Harpenden Road, stretching north from St Albans Girls School on Sandridgebury Lane and taking in part of the Woollam Playing Fields is a planned development of 1000 family homes. The scheme extends east across to the Midlands Mainline railway and south to the Valley Road industrial estate. It includes some affordable housing, new primary school provision and some community infrastructure but will lean on St Albans as its main commuting, shopping and services centre.
This is a large-scale proposed development on Green Belt land which has been attracting a lot of public comment. It is included as a site allocation in the emerging Local Plan. The developer has published a summary website with links to some of the planning application documents. The full set is on the planning portal under application reference 5/2024/2271.
As with other developments of this size, design and infrastructure details will be of paramount importance. The residential element of the plans has been submitted for outline approval and has not yet been determined. The Civic Society will continue to monitor the application.
Land behind 112-156B Harpenden Road
Adjacent to and west of the proposed Woollam Park development is an area of land acquired by Cala Homes for a proposed development of 124 homes with 40% of them to be categorised as affordable.
Like the Woollam Park development, the proposals have attracted many comments and objections. The Civic Society design group described the very bland and standardised plans as ‘dismal’. The application was approved on 1 September 2025 under planning application reference 5/2024/1284.
City centre/ Catherine Street retirement community
The Coupers Garage in Catherine Street is no more, and in its place we will see a new retirement community of 48 homes. The developer, McCarthy Stone, met with stakeholders as part of its community engagement activity. The planning application reference is 5/2024/1007.
City centre/ Argos site
Further details are now emerging of the plans that developer Denton Homes has for the former Argos site, at 5 Spencer Street, and fronting Market Place. Initial plans involved the additions of two more stories, The current application proposes the demolition of the existing commercial building, and the redevelopment of the site to provide 47 apartments, as well as cycle parking, refuse storage, and hard and soft landscaping. There will be no parking provision for these new residents.
City centre/ Havana building
50 Victoria Street, a converted Baptist church which houses the Havana night club, is on the market with a plan for conversion into 60 studio, one- and two-bed flats. Again, it is thought there will be no parking for residents.
SEGRO Logistics Park Radlett
Sandwiched between the A414 (North Orbital) to the north; M25 to the south; the Bricket Wood, How Wood and Park Street section of the Abbey Line to the west; and the Midland Mainline to the east, this rail and road freight interchange will have 335,000 sq m of distribution units in use 24/7. An estimated 10,000 additional HGVs a day will use local roads to access the logistics park. The plan includes a rail interconnect and sidings, landscaping and changes at the Park Street roundabout to help with traffic throughput.
The low resolution image above gives a broad picture of the location and there’s greater detail on the developer’s website. Known locally by the slightly misleadingly named Strategic Rail Freight Interchange project, the development is on Green Belt land and will predominantly generate road traffic. It was refused by St Albans City and District Council and opposed by local groups, including the Civic Society, but approved by the Secretary of State in July 2014.
The scheme includes landscaping, transport infrastructure works and noise mitigation measures and we will be monitoring progress on these elements of the scheme.