Aaron Jacob is a former district councillor in St Albans and is standing again this May. He used to work in the telecommunications industry and is now a solicitor.
Having suffered the scars of 2022’s ‘all-out’ elections in St Albans, this year’s local elections promise to be a tamer affair. With just four Councillors, we Conservatives have serious ground to make up before we can think about steering this great City and District to calmer waters. The Lib Dems are so embedded here that their control of the Council, and their power to do as they see fit, seems unassailable.
What are the battleground issues? Outsiders may think that this mini-metropolis is sufficiently salubrious to just get on with it. And, too, they may think that the issues it faces pale in comparison to other areas of the country. That view would be naïve. The issues are multiple and various. First up is the charter market. This medieval creature, dating back almost 500 years, was once the centripetal force around which the rest of St Albans thrived. Now, though, due to changes imposed by the Lib Dem majority, there is a pervasive, palpable sense that the Charter Market is not what it used to be. Next up is taxation. Times are tough, granted. But the Lib Dem majority has introduced a regressive tax to have a green bin, and Council Tax rises show no sign of abating. Parking, too, has become a local cash cow: parking charges increased by 15 per cent in 2022, and free parking has now been removed at two local leisure centres. Quite a paradox, you may think, for a Council that seeks to support the local economy. You could also throw in planning, where a Local Plan is not expected until December 2025, by which time the existing Local Plan will be some 30 years old. This is not to mention closing the roads in the city centre, a legacy of trying to enforce pedestrianisation and re-make St Albans in their own weltanschauung, with al fresco dining and all its appurtenances. It’s certainly confusing for visitors.
Yet look at the Council Plan for 2023, and many of these issues are conspicuous by their absence. Granted, supporting the local economy gets a reference. Some of the goals, such as combating the climate emergency, are laudable. But, as a matter of priority, keeping streets open, having an up-to-date Local Plan, and not hiking car parking charges in the manner that they have, may serve the local population better. “Ahhhh!”, you might say, “but, Aaron, you lost last year. Get with the programme!”
And lose we did. Comprehensively. Nevertheless, what may be construed as the subordination of everyday issues to more lofty ideas are precisely why this election matters. Mathematically, there is no way of the Conservatives regaining their majority here at these local elections. But that great virtue, competition, is what matters. There’s nothing quite like the Schumpeterian ‘creative destruction’ of ideas, so that stupid policies are quashed, while elected representatives are challenged, and held to account. Monopoly is seldom a good thing. There is a risk with a one-party state that it becomes disconnected, unable to see the reality of what is going on around it. So, dear reader, whilst I accept that last year, I was surplus to electoral requirements, the game has certainly changed, and the dynamics have shifted again. The Conservatives are ready to fight again and offer real choice at these local elections.