The plan to abolish St Albans council in 2028 and merge it with Dacorum is on hold under a government review. The district election on 6 May 2027 goes ahead.

The plan to abolish St Albans City and District Council in April 2028 is on hold. The government is reviewing its decision to split Hertfordshire into four unitary councils. Until the review ends, councils have been told to stop work on it.

The first practical change is next May’s election. Under the July decision, residents would have elected a new West Hertfordshire Council covering St Albans and Dacorum. Instead, the council’s own elections page lists St Albans City and District Council elections on Thursday 6 May 2027, alongside parish and town council elections.

What the minister wrote

Jim McMahon, the Minister for Local Government, wrote to council leaders on 7 September 2026. His letter is published on gov.uk.

It says:

  • the government is reviewing the reorganisation programme as a whole, including “the 14 decisions made in July”
  • until the review concludes, councils should “cease work on implementing the decisions that were announced in July”
  • “elections scheduled to take place in May 2027 will go ahead to existing council boundaries”

Hertfordshire’s four-council decision was one of those made in July, on 16 July. It has not been withdrawn. It is paused while the review runs.

Decisions in four other areas were withdrawn outright: Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock; Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton; Norfolk; and Suffolk.

McMahon wrote that “now is the time to pause and reflect”. The letter gives no date for the review to finish. It promises only that next steps will be “communicated early and clearly”.

What the council has said

The council published a statement on 8 September from Angie Ridgwell, the senior responsible officer for Hertfordshire’s reorganisation programme. It confirmed the point that matters most here:

“the Government has confirmed that the elections to the Shadow Authorities will not take place in May 2027. Local authorities will continue with their usual cycle of local elections for 2027.”

The council’s reorganisation page now says “the programme timetable has been paused pending the review”. Lower down, the same page still shows its old timeline, with shadow authority elections in May 2027 and the new councils starting in April 2028. The first of those is now cancelled, and the second depends on the review.

Cllr Paul de Kort, the council leader, criticised the four-council plan when it was announced in July. The council’s news page carries no comment from him on the review.

What the July decision would have done

We reported the July decision in full when it was made. It would have:

  • abolished St Albans City and District Council, Dacorum Borough Council and Hertfordshire County Council on 1 April 2028
  • created West Hertfordshire Council, with 84 councillors, to run every council service for St Albans and Dacorum
  • replaced the May 2027 local elections with elections to the new council, extending sitting councillors’ terms
  • paid £900,000 in transition funding for each new council
Comparison table. May 2027 election: the July decision planned elections to a new West Hertfordshire Council; now St Albans City and District Council elections go ahead on 6 May 2027. 1 April 2028: the council was to be abolished and merged with Dacorum; now on hold under review with no new date. Parish elections: the first City Centre Parish poll on 6 May 2027, still given as 6 May 2027. Implementation: joint committees and 900,000 pounds per new council; now councils are told to cease work.
Graphic by St Albans Daily. Sources: government letters of 16 July and 7 September 2026; St Albans City and District Council elections and governance review pages, checked 11 September 2026.

The new city centre parish is a separate decision

The new St Albans City Centre Parish Council was the district council’s own decision, approved by Full Council on 15 July. It was not part of the government’s plan, and the minister’s letter does not mention it.

When we checked on 11 September, the council’s final recommendations page still said the new parish’s first elections “will be held on 6 May 2027 to coincide with the ordinary year of parish council elections”. It will have 25 councillors.

The council’s case for the parish leaned partly on the abolition. In June, Cllr de Kort said that with reorganisation “looming for the District Council, which will be abolished and replaced with a larger Unitary Council in 2028”, it was “the right time” for central St Albans to have a parish council. The council has not said whether the pause changes that. Our report on the new parish council has the wards and the dates.

What it means for you

  • Your services do not change. St Albans City and District Council still collects your bins, sets your council tax and decides planning applications. Hertfordshire County Council still runs schools, social care and roads. None of that was due to move before 2028 anyway.
  • You vote for the district council on 6 May 2027. Check you are on the electoral register, and remember to bring photo ID.
  • Central St Albans also elects its new parish council that day, for the first time.
  • Nothing about the longer term is settled. The review could confirm the four-council plan, change it or drop it, and it has no deadline.

Sources