Current Local Plan
The current adopted Local Plan is The District Local Plan Review 1994. This is being replaced by a new Local Plan.
Local Plans “expired” after 27th September 2007 unless “saved”, in whole or in part.
In 2007, a Direction was made saving specified policies of the District Local Plan Review 1994, ie they are still part of the development plan for St Albans.
The policies listed in the List of Saved Policies are therefore the remaining operational policies within the District Local Plan Review 1994. Any policies not on the list have expired and are no longer part of the development plan.
The Council has prepared a version of the adopted St Albans District Local Plan Review 1994 (adopted 30 November 1994) that shows the saved policies and deleted policies.
The Development Plan
Planning applications have to be decided in line with the Development Plan, unless there is a very good reason not to do so.
The Development Plan for St Albans District is made up of the following documents:
District Local Plan Review 1994
- District Local Plan Review 1994 – Saved and Deleted Policies Version (July 2020)
- St Albans inset map
- Harpenden inset map
- Fleetville inset map
- London Colney inset map
- Proposals Map 1
- Proposals Map 2
- Proposals Map 3
- Proposals Map 4
Harpenden Neighbourhood Plan (Made February 2019)
Sandridge Neighbourhood Plan (Made July 2021)
St Stephen Neighbourhood Plan (Made July 2022)
Redbourn Neighbourhood Plan (Made July 2023)
Wheathampstead Neighbourhood Plan (Made July 2023)
Waste Core Strategy & Development Management Policies DPD (Adopted November 2012)
Waste Site Allocations DPD (Adopted July 2014)
The Hertfordshire Minerals Local Plan Review (Adopted March 2007)
Once approved, other Neighbourhood Plans will form part of the Development Plan.
Current Local Plan Saved Policies
Main Modifications Consultation - New Draft Local Plan April 2026
The new draft Local Plan was submitted, on 29th November 2024, to the Planning Inspectorate for independent examination which is being carried out on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This is in accordance with Regulation 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended) “the Local Plan Regulations”. A consultation on Main Modifications to the Local Plan under Regulation 24 of the Local Plan Regulations commenced on Monday 13th April 2026. Accordingly, the emerging Local Plan now has significant weight in decision making, with its policies being an important material consideration.
Paragraph 49 in the NPPF (2024) sets out that Local Planning Authorities may give weight to relevant policies in emerging plans according to:
- the stage of preparation of the emerging plan (the more advanced its preparation, the greater the weight that may be given);
- the extent to which there are unresolved objections to relevant policies (the less significant the unresolved objections, the greater the weight that may be given); and
- the degree of consistency of the relevant policies in the emerging plan to this Framework (the closer the policies in the emerging plan to the policies in the Framework, the greater the weight that may be given)
The Main Modifications versions of the new draft Local Plan Part A and Part B (April 2026) and the draft Policies Map (April 2026) can be found below:
