The 2012 St Albans City and District Council election took place on 3 May 2012 to elect members of St Albans District Council in Hertfordshire, England. One third of the council was up for election and the council stayed under no overall control.^[1]

After the election, the composition of the council was:

• Conservative 29
• Liberal Democrats 19
• Labour 8
• Green 1
• Independent 1^[2]

Before the election the Conservatives were the largest party on the council with 29 of the 58 seats.^[3] The Liberal Democrats had 23 seats, Labour had 4 seats, the Green Party had 1 seat and there was 1 Independent.^[3] Since the last election in 2011 Labour had gained a seat in Batchwood from the Liberal Democrats at a by-election in January 2012.^[4]

19 seats were contested in 2012 with both the Conservative and Labour parties having a full 19 candidates, the Liberal Democrats had 18 and the Greens had 17.^[5] There were 3 independent candidates as well, the sitting independent councillor Tony Swendell in Redbourn, the former Labour group leader Maurice MacMillan in London Colney, who had left the party a few years before over the imposition of an all-women shortlist, and Conservative councillor John Chambers, who was standing in Harpenden North as an independent after having been deselected by the Conservatives.^[5] Of the 19 seats the Conservatives were defending 9, the Liberal Democrats 8 and both the Green party and an independent were defending 1 seat.^[6]

The Labour Party gained 4 seats to have 8 councillors after taking 3 seats from the Liberal Democrats and 1 seat from the Conservatives.^[7] The Conservatives remained the largest party, while the Liberal Democrats dropped to 19 seats and both the Green Party and Independent Tony Swendell held the seats they had been defending.^[7]