Radlett Aerodrome rail freight depot land is sold by council after 18-year dispute

Land on which a long-disputed rail freight terminal near the M25 could be built has been sold to developers.

Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) confirmed the sale of the former Radlett Airfield site after it agreed terms with Segro last month.

The council said the development, which already has planning permission, would bring "employment opportunities".

Liberal Democrat councillor, Sandy Walkington, said it was the "wrong development in the wrong place".

The plan to build a major freight depot at Radlett Aerodrome had been opposed by campaigners for about 15 years when in 2020 St Albans District Council withdrew its opposition.

Segro, first applied for planning permission in 2009 and after a Planning Inspectorate appeal, planning permission was granted in 2014.

The district council lost a High Court appeal against the plan in 2015, after it received government approval.

But it could still only be built if the county council sold land it owned to the developers, which councillors decided to do in December 2022.

Last month, Liberal Democrat councillors asked to have the terms of sale reviewed due to changes in circumstances in the nine years since planning permission was granted but a council report said there had been "no relevant changes".

Confirming the sale, the county council said it would "pave the way" for a strategic freight rail interchange, country park and a bypass to alleviate traffic pressures in the Park Street area.

"Not only should this development bring forward employment opportunities for the people of Hertfordshire, the use of rail for cross-country freight will help the nation collectively reduce our carbon footprint," a statement said.

"There are numerous planning conditions attached to the permission granted by the secretary of state designed to ensure that local interests are protected, one being that the infrastructure is delivered."

It added that it was now up to St Albans District Council ensure the conditions were complied with and it would "help them as much as we can to achieve this".

Mr Walkington, who represents St Albans South, said residents "certainly hadn't given in" and were "looking very hard at mounting a judicial review".

"I think there will be fury across the whole area," he said.

"What was once green is going to have this absolutely massive development that fills the entire space... [with] huge sheds totally destroying the context of St Albans Cathedral and condemning us to years of traffic congestion.

"We have permanently lost this really important green space.

"I really cannot see any positives, it will be the duty of both [local] councillors to see if they can persuade Segro to do any alleviating measures but all the weight of evidence and burden of impact is going to be negative."

St Albans District councillor Nuala Webb, from the Save St Albans: Fight the Freight group, said it was a "sad day for local democracy and a sad day for the entire St Albans area".

"Herts CC have continued to ignore legal advice that they were under no compulsion to sell," she said, adding: "They have blocked petitions against the sale from local residents and ignored mounting evidence that this valuable piece of green belt land will not be viable as a rail freight terminal and will instead end up as a lorry to lorry distribution centre, increasing the carbon footprint rather than reducing it."

She added: "Despite the announcement, the fight is not over."

The group will now "consider steps towards a possible judicial review", she said.

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