The suburb falls within the Christchurch Central electorate and is represented by Duncan Webb, who has been the member of parliament since the 2017 general election.

The Māori were the first settlers in the area occupying modern-day Christchurch, the area was predominantly wetlands with patches of grasslands, the nearest permanent settlement was Puāri near Victoria Square, an important food-gathering place for local Māori.

[3] Later, a working-class settlement, St Albans was a separate borough from 1881 until 1903 when it became part of Christchurch City.

Many houses, supermarkets, and shops were significantly damaged with a lot ending up totally demolished.

In July 2011, the demolition of the former library, which houses the community centre, was ordered by the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.

[5] By 2014 the extent of the damage to drainage systems and lowered ground levels had become apparent, with the regular flooding of a series of streets known as the Flockton Basin.

In 2013, geography students at the University of Canterbury conducted a survey asking St Albans residence where they thought the boundaries lay.

Distributed to 5,000 homes and businesses, the paper has recently been expanded to fill 16 pages.

Over the years it has been central in numerous community-related issues including local planning, Packe Street Park, the Edgeware Road Tragedy, and the closure of Edgeware swimming pool (to which it was editorially opposed).