Half a century ago, St Albans council was one of the first local authorities to designate a Conservation Area around the city.

On this week's St Albans Podcast, community broadcaster Danny Smith will be learning all about its history from Robert Pankhurst, a member of Conservation 50.

This is a collaboration group between the St Albans Civic Society, Abbey Precincts Residents Association and Aboyne Residents Association, which was set up to celebrate the city's 50th conservation anniversary.

Its headline event is a conference on July 6 at Dagnall Street Baptist Church from 2pm.

Host Danny will also be chatting with OVO theatre company chair David Widdowson, who returns to the podcast for his regular feature.

He tells Danny about what is happening around St Albans theatres, for example at the Abbey Theatre, Maltings Arts Theatre, and the Roman Theatre Festival.

Regular highlights on the St Albans Podcast are returning as usual, including local news items from Herts Ad reporter Franki Berry and a light-hearted look at an international story from Sam Rolfe and Ian Rogers.

St Albans Podcast was launched in conjunction with the Herts Ad earlier this year. The next episode is available tonight (June 12) at 7pm.