Eating out safely – use the on-line rankings list of pubs, restaurants and eateries.

All restaurants, cafes, takeaways and other food outlets in St Albans City and District will be given a rating for food hygiene by April 2014.

St Albans City and District Council is more than half way through implementing the national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme in the District.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme was developed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities. It rates eateries and other places that sell food on their hygiene standards, based on inspections carried out by council Food Safety Officers. (more…)

War memorials – note from the district council

The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has granted listed building consent to restoration work on the war memorial in St Peter’s Street, St Albans.

This work will be the first part of a restoration programme for the war memorials in the care of St Albans City and District Council.

The Council is committed to honouring those who died for their country and to the long-term preservation of the City’s war memorial heritage.

Last year Cabinet agreed to obtain specialist advice on the cleaning and maintenance of the war memorial at the top of St Peter’s Street, St Albans.

It also agreed to an inspection of all the City war memorials with a view to putting in place an ongoing programme of cleaning and maintenance.

All the war memorials in the Council’s care have been inspected by a stonework and conservation specialist. He has advised us which war memorials require restoration work and how this should be done

A programme of work has been drawn up for the restoration of five war memorials.

The first stage relates to the restoration of the grade II war memorial in St Peter’s Street. This will involve cleaning, re-pointing work and the restoration of the names of members of the armed forces who died in World War II. The names are located separately at the base of the memorial and are difficult to read due to erosion.

As part of the restoration process, we will meet the request of the family concerned and correct one of the names which was originally misspelt.

Although the Council obtained quotes for this work some time ago, work could not be undertaken without listed building consent.

As the work is likely to take up to twelve weeks to be carried out, we do not plan to start it before Remembrance Sunday on 11 November 2012.

The names of those who died in World War II are inscribed on stone panels. Each panel will be extracted and temporarily taken off site so it can be properly restored. While the work is being undertaken, the memorial will be fenced off.

The restoration will take place at the earliest opportunity next spring, when the weather conditions will be more suitable for the re-pointing work to be carried out.

Lib Dems condemn plans to introduce taxi rank in Market Place

At a chaotically chaired Licensing Committee last night, Liberal Democrat councillors attacked the council’s plans to introduce a taxi rank in Market Place.

Chris White, who leads for licensing for the Liberal Democrat group, said: ‘The papers contained a previously undiscussed proposal to direct taxis up Spencer Street in order to park up outside The Boot.

‘Market Place is essentially a pedestrian shopping area – and in fact should be fully pedestrianised, as it was until Labour councillors reintroduced traffic there a decade or so ago. Having taxis there completely undermines its current use – as well as ruining one of the more attractive entrances to the city centre. And residents in Spencer Street need more traffic like they need a hole in the head.

‘Officials admitted that no attempt had been made to consult with local district councillors – let alone with me as county councillor – but are pressing ahead anyway with investigating the possibilities of this ridiculous idea, despite the objections made by councillors last night.

‘This is not good enough and shows the shambles into which the council’s licensing policy is descending under the current chair of this committee.’

Council publishes draft Strategic Local Plan documents ahead of public meetings

St Albans City & District Council has published a number of draft planning documents. These documents will be considered at two public meetings to be held on Wednesday 19 and Monday 24 September.

The documents include a draft housing target for the District over the next 17 years and the draft Strategic Local Plan.

Once formally adopted, the Strategic Local Plan will set out planning policy in the district, including a framework for infrastructure and development policy, up until 2028. The Plan will partially replace the 1994 Local Plan on which planning policy is currently based.

Both draft documents are available on the Council’s website.

The documents are nearing completion and the Council is keen to showcase them. The Council is also seeking preliminary views as to whether they have been produced in line with planning and legal regulations and are ‘sound’ in legal terms.

The meeting on 19 September is an opportunity for people to hear where we are in the process and the constraints under which the Council is operating. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers.

Councillors and members of the public are invited to submit comments on emphasis, clarity of the document and issues arising. These will be considered further at the meeting on 24 September.

The Local Services Scrutiny Committee meeting on 27 September will consider the documents and comments from the public meetings, before they go to Cabinet on 18 October.

The documents will then be considered by Full Council in November. Council’s agreement will be sought to publish the Strategic Local Plan, for its final procedural stage.

Once agreed by Council, the final draft version of the Strategic Local Plan will progress to what is known as ‘pre-submission publication’ in late 2012. This is a final opportunity for people to comment on the plan’s legal soundness. This ‘pre-submission publication’ phase is the final stage following the series of detailed consultations conducted over the last few years. Once responses have been considered, the final version of the Strategic Local Plan will be submitted to the Secretary of State for examination.

The meetings on 19 and 24 September begin at 7pm and take place in the Council Chamber. The meetings can also be viewed via webcast either live or after the event.

St Albans District council will help you recycle if you are organising an event

Organising an event in the District? Special recycling bins available

If you are organising an event in the District, you can now borrow special recycling bins from St Albans City & District Council.

The Council has some recycling bins designed to be used at public events to encourage people to recycle their cans and plastic bottles on the go. Look out for the big green flags!

Anyone wishing to borrow recycling bins for an event can do so by contacting Louise Palmer, Recycling Officer on 01727 819428.

Car boot sale scandal

Residents have been contacting Lib Dem councillors to express concern that a company calling itself HB Boot Sales is planning to have a car boot sale every Sunday in Ridgmont Road station car park from Sunday 4 March.

Chris White comments: ‘This is outrageous. The railway companies own this land and are as usual treating local people with contempt. I cannot see how in a civilised country people should have to put up with a car boot sale outside their front doors for 5 hours on a Sunday.’

District Council officers are attempting to get the promoter to see sense but are limited in their power of intervention.

Chris added: ‘We will keep on pressing officials to take action to allow local people their much earned day of rest.’

The promoter plans to start at 9 am on Sunday morning.

New GIS service available

St Albans City and District Council has launched a new web service through which residents can view detailed information tailored to any individual address in the District.

The new service is based on Geographical Information System data. From one web page you can see, for example, the planning history of your home and overlay map information to see details about planning applications related to properties in your neighbourhood.

With specific reference to your address, you can check when your waste and recycling collection is due, find the name and contact details of your local ward councillors, find your nearest library or household recycling centre and report anti-social behaviour such as fly-tipping and graffiti.

To see the St Albans City & District online Local Information Service please visit http://gis.stalbans.gov.uk/wmlcustomerservice/ or see the link on the Council’s homepage.

The Council is keen to receive feedback on the new Local Information Service and learn what additional information people would value on this site. Please email your views to gis@stalbans.gov.uk, or telephone 01727 819324.

This Wednesday is your chance to comment on future of Maltings Theatre

Note from District council:

Give your views on the Maltings Arts Theatre at public meeting

Come along to a public meeting at the Maltings Arts Theatre on Wednesday, 7 December 2011 at 7pm and give your views on how you would like the venue to be used in the future.

The open stakeholder forum meeting is being organised by St Albans City and District Council as part of a wider consultation on the future of the theatre.

The Council’s Malting Arts Theatre Working Party is looking into possible long-term uses for the theatre and is keen to hear from anyone with an opinion on the venue. Key stakeholders and people who have previously expressed an interest in the future of the Maltings Arts Theatre have been invited to the meeting.

If you would like to attend the meeting on 7 December, please can you email arts@stalbans.com so that we can ensure that there is sufficient capacity to accommodate everyone.

Food and Drink Festival shortlist for voting is out now

You can now vote for your favourite shortlisted venue in each of the 7 categories of the Food and Drink Festival.

The categories you can vote for from across the whole district are:

Best Restaurant
Belvedere Restaurant (at Ardmore House), St Albans
Darcys, St Albans
Lussmanns, St Albans
Okka Cafe Brasserie, Harpenden
Veer Dhara, St Albans

Best Pub
The Holly Bush, Potters Crouch
The Plough, Tyttenhanger
The Six Bells, St Albans
The White Lion, St Albans
The Three Horseshoes, Harpenden

Best Bar
Bar 62 , St Albans
Mokoko, St Albans
Slug and Lettuce, St Albans
The Peahen, St Albans
The Snug Bar, St Albans

Best Café
Barrissimo, St Albans
Lily Lounge, Harpenden
Okka Cafe Brasserie, Harpenden
Secret Garden Café, St Albans
Soko Coffee, St Albans

Family Friendly
Inn on the Park, St Albans
Lussmanns, St Albans
Secret Garden Café, St Albans
The Blackberry Jack, St Albans
The Nectar House, Chiswell Green

Local Gem
Dixies Cupcakery, St Albans
Heaven is a Cupcake, St Albans
Sycamore Wholefoods, St Albans (market and Hatfield Road)
The Pudding Stop, St Albans
The Village Flapjack Co, Redbourn (and St Albans market)

Local Producer
Carpenters Nursery, Sandridge
Childwickbury Goats Cheese, Childwickbury
Earthworks, St Albans
Redbournbury Mill, Redbournbury
That Little Brewery, Harpenden

You can also nominate an individual person working within the food and drink industry for the Kate D’Arcy Award for Exceptional Customer Service. This award was created in memory of Kate D’Arcy, co-founder of Darcys Restaurant and is for someone who has exceeded normal expectations by providing outstanding service. To vote go to the website: http://www.allaboutstalbans.net/food_festival/kate-darcy-award.aspx

Voting for all categories including the Kate D’Arcy Award closes on Friday 30 September.

To vote go to the website: http://www.allaboutstalbans.com/directory/food-and-drink-festival-2011/3-44. From 15 September the shortlist for each category will be available online.

The winners will receive their awards at the special award ceremony to be held on Thursday 6 October at St Michael’s Manor Hotel in Fishpool Street, St Albans. Everyone is welcome to attend this prestigious event. The evening includes a welcome drink, delicious 3 course buffet and a raffle in aid of the Mayor, Cllr Aislinn Lee’s charities*. This event is sponsored by Flagship Wines, Mokoko and St Michael’s Manor Hotel. Tickets are £25 plus a booking fee and can be booked online: https://my.allaboutstalbans.net/book-tickets/St-Michaels-Manor/391/Festival-Celebration-and-Food-and-Drink-Awards.aspx.

This is the fourth year of the St Albans Food & Drink Festival, organised by St Albans City and District Council, which showcases the fantastic range of food, drink and produce available across the district. It starts on Wednesday 28 September with the famous St Albans Beer Festival organised by CAMRA* and ends with the al fresco Festival Finale in St Peter’s Street on Sunday 9 October.