Claire Molyneux starts on 12 November as interim clerk of the new parish council for central St Albans, readying 28,000 households for elections next May.

The new parish council for central St Albans has its first member of staff. Claire Molyneux has been appointed interim clerk of St Albans City Centre Parish Council and starts on Thursday 12 November, St Albans City and District Council announced on 2 November.

The parish will cover 28,000 households in the middle of the city, which until now has been the only part of the district without a parish or town council. Her job is to work with the shadow parish council to set the new body up and to prepare for the election of its 25 councillors in May next year.

Who the clerk is

Ms Molyneux was brought up in Oxford and has worked in public service and local government for the past 21 years, most recently as a parish clerk in Buckinghamshire, the council said. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Leadership and is a Fellow of the Society of Local Council Clerks, the society’s highest grade of membership.

“I am delighted to have been appointed as Interim Parish Clerk,” she said.

“St Albans is a beautiful and historic city with a real sense of community, and it is a privilege to be helping to establish its new Parish Council. I am looking forward to working with Councillors, partners and residents to help create a Parish Council that truly reflects the City it serves.”

The district council’s leader, Councillor Paul de Kort, said: “Claire’s appointment is a major step towards the establishment of the new St Albans City Centre Parish Council.

“She is an experienced and highly-qualified local government officer who has the knowledge and skill to get the new Council up and running.”

Which streets it covers

The parish takes in nine district council wards:

  • Batchwood
  • Bernards Heath
  • Clarence
  • Cunningham
  • Hill End
  • Marshalswick West
  • Sopwell
  • St Peters
  • Verulam

If you live in one of those wards you will be able to vote for parish councillors in May, and once the council is running you will help pay for it. After the elections it will be able to charge a precept, a parish share added to the Council Tax bill of every household in its area, to fund its work. How large that charge will be has not been set.

What happens between now and May

District councillors voted in July to create the parish after a Community Governance Review, which we reported on at the time. Until the elections it is run by a shadow council made up of one district councillor from each of the nine wards, plus the interim clerk.

The shadow council has three jobs, according to the district council: to draw up a governance framework, to find suitable office space, and to make residents aware that the parish council is coming.

The new council could also become the keeper of the city’s oldest civic office: officers have recommended that the mayoralty, held without a break since 1553, passes to the City Centre Parish Council when the district council is replaced (our September report).

The district’s other parishes

Nine other parish and town councils already operate in the district: Harpenden Town, Harpenden Rural, Redbourn, Wheathampstead, London Colney, Sandridge, Colney Heath, St Michael and St Stephen. Parish councils give communities a local voice and can run grassroots services, the district council said.

More council news is on the St Albans City and District Council news page.