Almost 6,000 responses received to consultation on Community Governance Review
Almost 6,000 responses were made to a public consultation on proposals for changes to parish and town council arrangements in St Albans District.
A total of 686 people contributed by completing an online questionnaire or sending in their views by email or post.
In addition, 5,169 households took part in local polls in Harpenden Rural Parish, Highfield and the unparished area of St Albans.
All the feedback will now be analysed and a report submitted to the Strategy and Resources Committee of St Albans City and District Council on Tuesday 23 June.
The Committee will decide on a final set of recommendations which will go to a Full Council meeting on Wednesday 15 July.
Any changes to parish and town council arrangements should be implemented in time for the scheduled parish and town council elections in May 2027.
The 11-week consultation, which ran from 8 December last year to 23 February 2026, was part of a Community Governance Review (CGR) run by the Council.
It was widely publicised through Council news releases and shared posts on social media with residents across the District encouraged to give their views on the proposals.
Among the options that were put forward were:
A new parish council for the unparished area of St Albans.
A separate parish council for the Highfield area.
The abolition of Harpenden Rural Parish Council with its area becoming part of Harpenden Town Council.
Households within these three areas were invited to take part in ballots in which they were asked if they agreed with the recommendation affecting them.
In addition, changes were suggested in relation to parish councillor numbers and the parish ward boundaries in London Colney Parish.
The CGR was launched following Government plans to restructure local government in Hertfordshire.
This will see the abolition of the current two-tier system of district and county councils and its replacement by unitary authorities.
Amanda Foley, the Council’s Chief Executive, said:
Many thanks to everyone who submitted a response not only to this consultation, but to one we held previously.
It is important that our residents help shape the proposals, so we will now consider all their feedback, including the results of the local polls. This will help us decide the final recommendations.
Local government is going through a major restructure and we want to ensure that our parish and town councils are not forgotten about during this process.
More information: www.stalbans.gov.uk/CGR.
Contact for the media: John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer, 01727 819533, john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.