St Albans City and District Council is to meet with Tesco to discuss the future use of its London Road site following the supermarket’s decision to abandon plans to build a large store on the land and to relocate its city centre store to the old Woolworths building in St Peter’s Street, St Albans.

The Council is planning to consult with Tesco on the future use of the site, as part of its work on the emerging Core Strategy for the Local Development Framework (LDF) for St Albans City and District. The LDF incorporates work undertaken last year on the City and Rural Vision, which is now being combined to form a District Vision.

Cllr Robert Donald, leader of St Albans City and District Council, said: “I am obviously delighted that Tesco has decided to develop a store on the Woolworths site rather than the London Road site as this was never the right location for a superstore and reflects the views of the majority of local residents.

“However, I am anxious that action is taken by Tesco to bring its properties on London Road and Inkerman Road back into habitable use as soon as possible now.

“I welcome Tesco’s willingness to consult with the Council on developing the remainder of this site. The Council’s Chief Executive, Daniel Goodwin, its Head of Planning and Building Control, Heather Cheesbrough, and I, are meeting with Tesco in the near future to talk about their long-term plans for London Road so that they meet the key objectives of the Council’s emerging Core Strategy of the Local Development Framework. As part of that meeting, we will obviously explore the need for additional housing and the provision of a primary school site in the City.”

As part of the next stage in the preparation of the core strategy of LDF, the Council will be preparing Development Briefs for key sites identified in its City Vision document. The Development Briefs will provide more detailed information to developers and investors of the type and quantity of development the Council would like to see.

Cabinet decided in January to remove eight Areas of Search for housing development, all of which were in the Green Belt, from the Core Strategy for the LDF. This followed the initial phase of the Shaping Our Community consultation on the core strategy during which it became apparent that there was significant public opposition to the building of houses on Green Belt land.

The Council will now investigate other opportunities for housing development within St Albans and the District in order to find the balance of housing units needed to comply with its target of 7,200 homes by 2021.

Cllr Donald, added: “It is one of the Council’s priorities to safeguard the environment, especially protecting the Green Belt. This is a position that is supported by residents who made their views very clear through the public consultation. Following the withdrawal of the eight Areas of Search for housing development, we are now looking for sites elsewhere in the District that would be suitable for the building of homes especially brownfield plots. The London Road site, owned by Tesco, could be one of these.”

Further consultation is due to be carried out on the core strategy before a final report is published on the Shaping Our Community consultation at the end of March.