St Albans City & District Council has 58 Councillors representing the electorate across 20 Wards.
How the Council works
Your Council has a Executive Leader and Cabinet for decision making. The Cabinet is sometimes referred to as 'the Executive' and is chaired by the Executive Leader who is also a Portfolio Holder. This system aims to make it plain who is responsible for decisions. The Cabinet is made up of six portfolio holders who make the day to day decisions affecting their areas of responsibility. The Executive Leader is Councillor Julian Daly, who is also Chair of Cabinet and Resources Portfolio Holder. The Deputy Executive Leader is Councillor Mike Wakely who is also Portfolio Holder for Sports, Leisure and Heritage.
To check on the actions of the Executive, Overview & Scrutiny committees have been formed. Overview and Scrutiny committees have powers to look closely at the decisions of the Cabinet and review the policies of the Council.
The Full Council is made up of all 58 members. It has the role of setting the annual budget and overall policy framework for the Council. Scrutiny may also refer unresolved call-in issues to Full Council.
Cabinet
The Cabinet is made up of a group of Councillors who meet on a regular basis throughout the year. Each Cabinet member has a Portfolio of services. They work closely with Council officers including the Council's Chief Executive and Heads of Service, to make many decisions that affect services.
The six portfolios are currently held by Councillors from the Conservative group.
The next four months work of the Cabinet is scheduled in advance and published in the Executive Forward Plan. Forward Plans are published on the Council's website. An annual statement is published in the press explaining what the Forward Plan is, and where and when it will be available.
Cabinet must work within the budget and policy framework set by the Full Council.
Portfolios
The work of the six Portfolios is conducted in committee meetings. The Portfolios are:
Resources
Councillor Julian Daly (also Executive Leader and Chair of Cabinet)
Sports, Leisure and Heritage
Councillor Mike Wakely (Deputy Executive Leader)
Community Engagement and Localism
Councillor Beric Read
Housing
Councillor Brian Ellis
Environment
Councillor Daniel Chichester-Miles
Planning and Conservation
Councillor Teresa Heritage
Overview and Scrutiny
There are two Overview and Scrutiny committees.
The committees are made up of Councillors from all parties. They have the job of closely looking at (scrutinising) the work of the Council and its Executive. They also have the power to call-in decisions made by Cabinet members before they are implemented.
Scrutiny's power to review involves looking closely at a particular service or policy over a short period of time to make suggestions for improvement. The review may take the form of analysis of policy, carrying out research and conducting consultation. It can also involve the questioning of Portfolio holders, officers and members of the public to act as witnesses. Committees also have the power to co-opt members of the public or representatives of organisations external to the Council because of their expert knowledge on a particular subject.
Chairs of Overview and Scrutiny
Statutory committees
There are a number of committees that are legally required to carry out statutory duties.
These are planning, licensing and regulatory, standards and appeals.
The statutory committees and their current Chairs are:
Planning (Development Control) Committee Central
Councillor Melvyn Teare
Planning (Development Control) Committee North
Councillor John Chambers
Planning (Development Control) Committee South
Councillor Chris Brazier
Planning Referrals Committee
Councillor John Chambers
Licensing and Regulatory Committee
Councillor Gordon Myland
Standards Committee
Mr R Hershbein
Non Statutory Committees
The non statutory Committees and their current Chairs are:
Joint Member Panel
A copy of the Highways Joint Member Panel Agreement 30 May 2001 is available at the following link:
Public question time
You can question Cabinet members on the services and issues that are concerning you. Each Full Council meeting has a public question time scheduled.
Each speaker is given three minutes for questions. Public question time at Full Council meetings lasts for thirty minutes at the beginning of each meeting.
Submitting a question
You can submit your question...
online using our Speaking at Committees eform
by email to questions@stalbans.gov.uk
or you can post it to:
The Chief Executive
District Council Offices
Civic Centre
St Albans
Hertfordshire
AL1 3JE
Questions must be received by midday, 2 working days before each Council meeting.
Speaking at decision making meetings
You can put your point of view to members of the Council at meetings where decisions are made regarding planning and licensing applications.
Planning committees - you can speak for up to three minutes for or against a planning application, but you will not be able to ask questions. One person can speak in favour and one against each planning application.
Licensing and Regulatory committee - up to six people can speak on agenda items for up to three minutes each, but will not be able to ask questions.
To speak at planning or licensing meetings you can notify us by telephone on the day of the meeting using the following telephone numbers:
Planning meetings: tel 01727 819347 between 10am and 2.30pm.
Licensing and Regulatory Committee meetings: tel 01727 819526 between 9am and 3pm.
Infra-red hearing system
There is an infra-red hearing system in place for meetings in the Council Chamber and Committee Rooms. Advice on the use of the system will be provided at the meeting by a Democratic Services Officer, who will be wearing a name badge.
Webcasting
The following meetings are broadcast live over the internet:
Full Council, Cabinet, Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Public Services) Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Internal Performance) and all Planning Development Control Committees including Planning Referrals Committee.
Everyone who enters the Council Chamber for a meeting of either Committee is advised that they are giving permission for video (images and sound) to be recorded and transmitted live, and as an archive over the intranet and by any other means that the Council may decide to use, at its discretion, in the future.
The webcast will be made available in the public domain for future viewing purposes, which can be accessed from www.stalbans.public-i.tv/core/.
Finding out more
You can find out the dates of all public meetings of the Council on our website. Agendas and minutes for meetings can be found at the same link. If you have any questions, please contact Democratic Services at St Albans District Council - DemocraticServices@stalbans.gov.uk or 01727 819519 - and we will do our best to help you.
Date of last review: 25 May 2011