Plans for the future of St Albans came under the scrutiny of one of the country’s top judges today.

St Albans District Council today took its bid to salvage its Strategic Local Plan to London’s High Court.

The council submitted its draft plan, which set out its major development projects until 2031, in August last year. The plan took four years to develop.

However, in November a government planning inspector recommended that the council should withdraw it, because St Albans had failed in its duties to cooperate with neighbouring local authorities.

The council launched a legal challenge to this, which reached High Court today and is being considered by Sir Ross Cranston.

The sticking point is St Albans council’s view on what constitutes the “relevant local housing market area of St Albans district” when setting its plan.

The court has been told that the Council believes that St Albans is a separate housing market area to the rest of south Herts.

However neighbouring Hertfordshire authorities Dacorum Borough Council, Hertsmere Borough Council, Three Rivers District Council and Watford Borough Council, disagree. They think that St Albans is part of a wider local housing market.

Matthew Reed QC, for St Albans Council, told the judge, former MP and Solicitor General Sir Ross Cranston, that St Albans had discussed the issue at length with the other councils.

However, other councils didn’t come round to their point of view. They therefore “agreed to disagree”.

He said that the planning inspector’s finding that they hadn’t cooperated was “irrational” because of his “failure to take into account material considerations”.

The hearing is scheduled to finish tomorrow, with a written judgment expected at a later date.