St Albans is built next to the Roman city it replaced. Verulamium is the park at the bottom of the hill and the abbey is at the top, and the medieval clock tower is still standing in the middle of the market. Harpenden is four miles north with its own common and its own high street, and around them are Wheathampstead, Redbourn, London Colney, Sandridge and Bricket Wood.

St Albans Daily reports what the record shows. St Albans City and District Council decides planning, bins, car parks and licensing; Hertfordshire County Council runs the roads and the schools. In a district with this much conservation area and this much green belt, the planning register is where nearly every significant local argument begins, and we go through it with the source linked on every fact.

What lives here

• News: the record, including planning applications in the city, in Harpenden and in the villages.
• Local Info: bin collection days, parking and council tax bands.
• What’s On: what is happening in St Albans and Harpenden.

Every fact is linked to the official document it came from.