441 Luton Road Harpenden Hertfordshire AL5 3QE Data via plota.co.uk

5/2025/2112 - CLP Refused

Proposal

Certificate of Lawfulness (proposed) - New dormer to rear Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
18 Nov 2025
✓
Validated
19 Nov 2025
✗
Refused
10 Feb 2026
Appeal
Not lodged

Refused on 10 Feb 2026 · Delegated · Last checked 9 Oct 2026

Site constraints 8

Green belt: London
Inappropriate development needs very special circumstances.
Green belt policy allows a short list of exceptions, such as limited extensions and replacement buildings. Anything else needs very special circumstances that clearly outweigh the harm. Some green belt land can count as grey belt, where it does not strongly serve the green belt's purposes. The council decides this in its green belt assessment or on each application, so we do not mark it here.
Read the government guidance ↗
2 listed buildings within 150 m of the postcode pin
Nearest: Whip Cottage, Grade II, about 11 m from the postcode pin · 2 Grade II
The site itself is not listed. Listed building consent is needed for work that affects the special interest of a listed building, inside or out, on top of planning permission. Setting can be a consideration for buildings nearby; there is no fixed radius.
Show all 2 with distances
Historic England ↗
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 2
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Also on the record
Radon affected area, class 2; Inside the Harpenden built-up area; Priority habitat about 30 m away: Lowland heathland; Open access land about 18 m away: Access Land - Combined Open Country, Registered Common Land and Section 16 Dedicated Land. MoD Byelaw, Section 28 Exclusions, Racecourses and Aerodromes and ECP Margin have been removed.; Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s) had this area as grade 3, but it predates the buildings here and the current map does not class it as farmland.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 9 October 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency (radon, contains BGS materials © UKRI) and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

Sales history 1

Last sold for £465,000 in July 2007. Semi-detached house, freehold.

10 July 2007£465,000

Sale prices from HM Land Registry's price paid record, matched to this application by its address.

Building

Floor area163 m² (1,755 sq ft)
Energy ratingC (71 out of 100)
PropertySemi-detached house, 7 habitable rooms
Built1900 to 1929
HeatingBoiler and radiators, mains gas
WallsCavity wall, as built, no insulation (assumed)

From the energy performance certificate lodged in February 2019, the latest held for this property, matched to this application by its address. The building may have changed since. View the certificate

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Important details

Council
St Albans
Application type
CLP
Postcode
AL5 3QE
Received
18 Nov 2025
Validated
19 Nov 2025
Ward
Harpenden North & Rural
Parish
HARPENDEN RURAL
Case officer
Show
Target decision
26 Dec 2025
Decision
Certificate of Lawfulness Refused
Decision date
10 Feb 2026
Decision level
Delegated
Applicant
Show

How this decision compares

Decided in 83 days from validation, 27 days slower than St Albans's median of 56 for lawful development certificates. Refused, as 28% of lawful development certificates here are.

50%decided within 8 weeks
72%approved
243decided in the last year

Plota live figures for lawful development certificates decided by St Albans in the last twelve months, from validation. St Albans decision record →

Consultation & key dates

Alt. reference
318436PLN
Planning Portal ref
14493388
Comments by
26 Dec 2025
Statutory expiry
13 Jan 2026
St Albans
Planning Authority Score
1.1/10
Poor
#290 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Householder decisions

St Albans is one of the slowest councils in England for householder decisions, ranking #285 out of 296. The council extends the time limit on 64% of applications - one of the highest rates in England. Expect your application to take longer than the standard deadline. Householder applications are slightly less likely to be approved here (88%) than the national average (90%).

Among the slowest councils in England
for householder decisions
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
St Albans decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
87%
Overall approval rate
Above avg (87%) #180 of 296
88%
Householder approved
Below avg (90%) #226 of 296
29%
Decided in 8 weeks
Below avg (63%) #285 of 296
64%
Extended time limit
Above avg (41%) #278 of 296
74%
Minor dwellings approved
130 decided (1-9 homes)
61%
Major dwellings approved
18 decided (10+ homes)
77%
Change of use approved
26 decided
1,411
Total decisions
184 refused in the year to March 2026

Sale prices: Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Energy performance: Energy performance certificates from the Energy Performance of Buildings Register, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright 2026.