A vicar from St Albans will become the next suffragan Bishop of Aston, it has emerged.

The Revd Anne Hollinghurst, who has been Vicar of St Peter’s Church, St Peter’s Street since 2010, has been selected as the next suffragan Bishop of Aston, which is in the Diocese of Birmingham.

The 51-year-old has boosted links between the city centre church and other churches across St Albans and the diocese of St Albans said she has led a “creative churchyard project focused on welcoming visitors", environmental conservation and brought in artworks and helped renovate the extensive church grounds.

Revd Hollinghurst said: “As I prepare to leave one city for another, there will be much here that I shall miss, not least some of the wonderful people from the church and the wider community.

“I do know that all I have valued, learned and been a part of here will go with me and help equip me for the exciting, if rather daunting, challenges and opportunities ahead.

“I had not been anticipating a move quite so soon, but I have discovered that following a call from God is often full of surprises and I look forward to the new ministry to which that calling is now leading.”

Anne will be consecrated at Paul’s Cathedral on Tuesday, September 29 and take up her new ministry in Birmingham after her move in October.

The Bishop of St Albans, Alan Smith said: “In her five and a half years in St Albans Diocese, Anne has demonstrated in abundance the gifts that make her very well fitted to a bishop’s ministry in the challenging, busy, urban context she will find in the Diocese of Birmingham.

“She will be good news for the people there. Her ministry in St Albans was a welcome gift to our community for the time she has been here and she and Steve will be greatly missed and will go with our prayers.”