Daisy Cooper, MP for St Albans, has launched a new parliamentary Bill to halt attempts to buy up cherished green spaces on the Verulam Estate and in Ashby Gardens — a practice that has caused years of stress, confusion and unnecessary planning battles for local residents.
In these areas, small verges and green pockets that residents have used and enjoyed for decades have suddenly appeared at auction, often advertised with misleading suggestions that they could be developed.
These parcels of land were assumed to be owned by St Albans district council, after the developer formally agreed to transfer ownership in the 1970s. Since then they’ve been maintained by public funds.
However – for reasons unknown – this transfer never occurred, allowing an auction house to begin listing them just a few years ago.
Private buyers have since purchased them, believing they could be developed on, but all planning applications they subsequently submitted have been refused.
The result has been a cycle of frustration, wasted money, and a heavy burden on the local planning authority. And all the while, local residents have seen their lives and access to precious green spaces disrupted.
Daisy’s Amenity Land (Purchase by Local Authorities) Bill would give St Albans District council the power to buy back these small parcels of land at a nominal fee. This would allow them to be restored to public ownership and protected from inappropriate development.
Daisy wrote to the government in January 2026 but received a disappointing response, so has now tabled this Bill to push the issue again.
She also warned that the problem extends far beyond St Albans, with similar cases emerging in Wellingborough, Thanet, Falmouth, Warwickshire, Chartham, and Henlow. Polly Billington, MP for East Thanet, has co-sponsored Daisy’s Bill.
Daisy said:
“These green spaces were created for our local community, not for speculative profit.
“Residents of the Verulam Estate have experienced years of needless anxiety because of a loophole that should never have existed, which auction houses have exploited by selling land which can’t be developed to private buyers.
“My Bill would close that loophole once and for all. It’d protect Verulam Estate’s green spaces as vital community assets, end the merry-go-round of speculative planning applications, and cycle of frustration and wasted money for buyers of this land and council tax payers.”
After presenting the Bill in Parliament last week (on 25 March), she wrote to the government again urging them to work with her and the MP who co-sponsored her Bill.
