07 Oct 2024
Is it the end of the fight to prevent a strategic rail freight interchange being built on land south of St Albans?
This week High Court judge Lord Justice Lewison rejected a further legal challenge to the way Herts county council sold the land, after campaigners claimed the sale should have been overturned because the land on the former Radlett airfield was designated open space and could not be developed.
One of the Save St Albans: Fight the Freight campaign leaders, Cllr Nuala Webb, said: “It’s bitterly disappointing. The judge has rejected the appeal because he said we were unable to prove that when HCC bought the land for £1 in the 1980s it was as designated open space.
“But the judge has ignored the fact that HCC has been unable to show that they didn’t buy it for that purpose. For whatever reason, HCC insist they have been unable to find key documents, minutes of vital meetings and correspondence from the time when they bought the land.
“We know from those who ran the council at the time that the intention was to designate this site as open space which would have meant that it could not be developed. We’re not sure whether it’s incompetence, carelessness or something else but HCC who were the custodians of the paperwork that would settle this argument say they cannot find it.”
Save St Albans: Fight the Freight fear their campaign against the freight terminal development could now be over.
“We feel we have a strong argument for a further appeal and investigating whether we can take it to the Supreme Court but the cost is enormous,” said fellow leader Cllr Terrie Smith.
“The local community has dug deep and been incredibly supportive to fund the legal battle so far. But we would need raise another £80-100,000 for the next challenge and unless there’s a generous donor or a barrister willing to work for us pro-bono it looks like we’ve run out of options.”
Developers Segro have already started work on the site with the Midland Mainline railway due to be closed for nine days in December while they install a bridge offering access to the site.
Opponents of the development say the terminal will also bring traffic chaos to roads around St Albans. The developers admit there will be thousands of lorries and vans using the site each day. But it will be the only strategic rail freight terminal in the country that has no direct access to a motorway forcing all traffic onto local roads.
“People are very angry,” said Cllr Smith. “They are right to feel betrayed by HCC who claimed to be reluctant sellers but were all too keen to do a deal with developers. So keen that they failed to negotiate the usual clauses in such a deal that would have obliged the developers to fund necessary improvements to local roads to help cope with additional traffic the development will bring.”
Despite the legal setback, campaigners say the fight continues. “There are some big questions around this whole process that are still to be answered,” said Cllr Webb, “And there are some important conditions around the planning permission that need to be closely adhered to.
“Rest assured we’ll be monitoring and holding people to account wherever and whenever necessary.”
The wider reaction to the news has also been damning.
Local resident Susie Taylor said: “What an absolute travesty. Local democracy trampled by big money. No public meetings, no consultations or any mention of compensation for residents living within 20 metres of this monstrosity in southern Frogmore.
“We will be subjected to five to six years of noisy construction works and once it’s operational residents will be exposed to 24/7 noise pollution, night-time light pollution and increased air pollution. There are young families living here and it’s clear HCC don’t care about our physical and mental wellbeing.
“Residents have paid inflated St Albans Green Belt prices to live next to fields, not a gigantic industrial park which will result in a huge loss of wildlife and biodiversity.
“The new relief road will be going between our homes and running along our back gardens. It won’t stop lorries and vans using the A5183 through Park Street. The local road congestion is going to have a huge negative impact on south St Albans and surrounding areas, with huge maintenance costs that will be passed onto local taxpayers.
“The developer has made no secret that this will be predominantly a road-to-road hub and now know rail use will be less than 50 per cent of the original plan.
It’s an utter disgrace this got planning permission and even worse that HCC sold our Green Belt for a development that has inadequate supporting infrastructure.”
Andy Love, a long time campaigner against Park Street Green Beltland being developed for a rail freight interchange, said: “Although the news about the appeal being rejected is devastating to those against this development, I only have deep admiration for those involved in the Fight the Freight campaign.
“The group’s leaders, members and supporters have done everything possible that a community group could possibly be asked to do to try and save historic St Albans and its large population from this massive road/rail freight interchange development.
“In my opinion, a massive HGV intensive operations shouldn’t be built anywhere near schools and residents for obvious health and wellbeing reasons but I really don’t think this has ever been a serious consideration.
“The odds have always been stacked against campaigners and local residents because of the expertise and resources that the other interested parties had at their disposal.
“This site would have been better kept for the benefit of the local community but developers are developers and Green Belt clearly no longer has the protection that it was created to have. It’s very sad that it appears to be ending this way and I still can’t get my head around how Herts county council were able to purchase the land for just £1 without having a lasting commitment and responsibility to retain it for the community as undeveloped open space – in my opinion it’s a betrayal of trust.”
St Albans MP Daisy Cooper, who has been fighting against the scheme since she was elected in December 2019, added: “This is a huge disappointment for all of us who have been fighting against the wholly unsuitable location of the strategic rail freight interchange for years.
“Wedging such a huge transport infrastructure project between small villages with no link to the motorway will put huge additional pressure on our roads.
“Despite a valiant community campaign, it’s now clear that the fate of this project was effectively sealed when a Conservative Minister granted planning permission for the project and Hertfordshire’s Conservative county councillors voted to sell public land.
“Now Segro needs to step up to its promise to properly engage with local residents, to establish a community liaison group and set a date for a public meeting to hear their concerns – all things I’m pressing them to do without further delay.”
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the costs associated with the legal battle ended up being greater than the donations received by Fight the Freight, with members of the steering group taking on the additional financial burden. Anyone who would like to donate to help ease this pressure on these individuals can do so by visiting www.savestalbans.com/donate/
