St Albans City & District Council

Businesses in St Albans are being asked to take part in a survey about the impact of the Covid-19 crisis.

Geograph/Colin SmithCopyright: Geograph/Colin Smith

St Albans City and District Council is conducting the research to see what kind of support businesses will need to survive it..

The authority's cabinet has set up a cross-party Recovery Task and Finish Group that will consider all feedback before deciding what actions should be taken.

The survey runs until 9 June and is available here.

Councillor Karen Young said: "This survey will provide us with vital information about the current challenges faced by our business community and shape our response to their needs.

"The Recovery Task and Finish Group will also be looking at a later date at the actions we can take to help community groups as well as residents, including the most vulnerable."

Councils across Beds, Herts and Bucks have received details of their latest round of emergency funding from the government to help deal with the pandemic.

In the second £1.6bn handout, Luton Council, which has said the shutdown at Luton Airport will leave them with a £45m shortfall, will get a further £5.8m, which is a slight increase.

Hertfordshire County Council is getting less this time around and the government has said this payment is not ring-fenced for adult social care like the first round of funding, so the council could spend it on whatever it wants.

After the first allocation, there were concerns from district councils that they had missed out, having arguably lost more since the start of the pandemic because they get a lot of funds from car park charges and revenue from leisure centres that are currently closed.

This time, the districts have got a much larger share, some having gone from thousands to more than £1m.

• Bedford Borough: £4.7m - up £600,000
• Broxbourne Borough: £958,000 - up £917,000
• Bucks Unitary Authority*: £14.9m - up £4.5m
• Central Beds: £7.9m - up £2.4m
• Dacorum District: £1.5m - up £1,447,000
• East Herts District: £1.4m - up £1,353,000
• Herts County Council: £21.7m - down £4.4m
• Hertsmere Borough: £1m - up £953,000
• Luton Borough: £5.8m - up £400,000
• Milton Keynes Borough: £7.4m - up £1.4m
• North Herts District: £1.3m - up £1,252,000
• St Albans City and District: £1.4m - up £1,356,000
• Stevenage Borough: £871,000 - up £826,000
• Three Rivers District: £920,000 - up £885,000
• Watford Borough: £959,000 - up £909,000
• Welwyn Hatfield Borough: £1.2m - £1,149,000

* the Bucks Unitary Authority replaced Bucks County Council, Aylesbury Vale DC, Chiltern DC, South Bucks DC and Wycombe DC on 1 April.

Alec Campbell, the Conservative leader at St Albans District Council, has said he is "disappointed" with the result which led to him losing his seat.

Mr Campbell said the result was "far worse" than he thought it would be.

"We [St Albans] were a pretty strong remain area and the opposition capitalised on that," he said.

"There has been a lot of dissatisfaction among Conservative voters over the Withdrawal Agreement or Brexit in general and we are having to live with it.

"The results show overall there has been a twitch from Conservative towards Liberal Democrats.

"We have to accept mistakes have been made and we are not where we want to be."

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St Albans Liberal Democrat Chris White said it "remains to be seen" who will have control in the new council which has moved from Conservative to No Overall Control. The Lib Dems now have 25 councillors to the Tories 23, who also lost their leader.

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"No doubt there will be discussions among the parties as to who will be leader of the council, I don't know how those discussions will go," he said.

"We could be talking coalition, we could be talking going it alone but whatever happens there's going to be some significant change in St Albans."

He said a "combination of things" had led to the party' success in the city including the "Brexit backlash", the "strength of our Parliamentary candidate" Daisy Cooper, and "a very simple clear manifesto about improving the environment, improving community facilities, and generally tidying the council up" which "clearly resonates with the voters".

Liberal Democrats have been celebrating in St Albans after gaining eight seats.

Sandy WalkingtonCopyright: Sandy Walkington

Sandy Walkington (second right) is pictured with Stephen Barrett who won Verulam from the Conservatives and Mandy McNeil and Emma Matanle who won the two seats being contested in Sopwell, gaining from Labour.

The Lib Dems gained five other seats across St Albans and held all the ones they were defending.

Mr Walkington said it "looks like other results across England have been equally sensational".

We're not even halfway there with the results yet, but 3 May is not a great day to be waking up as a Conservative in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

Although they've held on to Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Dacorum and East Herts councils, they've lost overall control of both Welwyn Hatfield and St Albans, where Tory Leader Alec Campbell has lost his seat.

The Lib Dems have been the biggest benefactors from all of this, gaining more than 20 seats, while Labour have held Luton and Stevenage.

Friday's counts include all of Central Beds, Bedford's Mayoral election and a third of Milton Keynes Council, where the Tories are defending 12 seats.

And that means the day could yet get worse for the Conservatives.

The Conservatives have lost power in St Albans after losing six seats to the Lib Dems, one to Labour and one to an independent.

Council leader Alec Campbell was among the Tories who lost their seats.

The Lib Dems also took one seat from Labour and one vacant seat in Sopwell ward.

Overall turnout was 39.9%.

In St Albans, the Tories have lost power as the council goes to No Overall Control.

Earlier we told you that the Liberal Democrats had gained four seats from the Conservatives in St Albans.

Council leader Alec Campbell was among the Tories to lose their seats. He lost St Peters ward to Will Tucker.

Mr Tucker got 1,365 votes to Mr Campbell's 505. The turnout for the ward was 41%.

Votes are still being counted in Tory-controlled St Albans where a third of the councillors are up for election.

So far the Liberal Democrats have gained four seats from the Conservatives in Marshalswick South, Park Street, St Peters and Batchwood wards.

The Conservatives have a majority of 12 on the council and are defending 15 seats.

In St Albans the overall turnout is estimated to be 44% with the final result expected at about 03:00 BST.

So far ward turnouts range from 33.05% (Harpenden North) to 49.81%( Marshalswick South).

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There have been no county council elections this year but all 10 lower-tier councils in Hertfordshire - the districts and the boroughs - have had ballots on Thursday.

In Dacorum, East Herts and Hertsmere, everybody is up for election, while a third of all councillors are standing in the other seven authorities: Broxbourne, North Herts, St Albans, Stevenage, Three Rivers, Watford and Welwyn Hatfield.

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The Conservatives run seven of the 10 authorities, with the Liberal Democrats in charge of Three Rivers and Watford, and Labour responsible for Stevenage.

The Tories are expected to hold Dacorum, East Herts, Hertsmere, Broxbourne and North Herts, while Labour should hold on to Stevenage and Watford is likely to stay Lib Dem.

But Welwyn nearly went to no overall control in 2018 and St Albans could also be interesting. There the Conservatives are defending 14 seats but have a majority of 12.

Three Rivers could go to no overall control, although the Tories are defending lots of seats.

A World War One memorial bench in St Albans, which depicts a group of soldiers advancing over barbed wire towards enemy lines, has been defaced with white paint in what the city's mayor called "a despicable act of vandalism".

St Albans City and District CouncilCopyright: St Albans City and District Council

St Albans City and District CouncilCopyright: St Albans City and District Council

The metal bench was bought by St Albans City and District Council last year and placed by the historic Verdun Tree near the cathedral. The tree grew from a conker taken from the only tree left standing in the battlefield of Verdun - one of the bloodiest clashes of the 1914-1918 conflict.

The bench has now been restored to its previous condition. The silhouettes of soldiers are known as Tommies.

St Albans Mayor, councillor Rosemary Farmer, said: "This was a truly despicable act of vandalism that I am both upset and outraged by."

"If anyone can shed any light on who is responsible, then I would urge them to contact the police immediately."