10 Aug 2024
Bosses at County Hall appear to have finally recognised the fact that they face fresh challenges over their sale of land for a rail freight terminal.
The news comes a month after campaigners launched an appeal into a High Court decision to reject their claim that the sale of the land was unlawful.
Save St Albans: Fight the Freight insist the land should not have been sold by Herts county council because it was designated open space that cannot be developed.
In refusing grounds for a judicial review at a High Court hearing in June, Mrs Justice Leiven made her decision based on late evidence from a local farmer who said he had a tenancy agreement since 2017 that showed the land was not open space.
But campaigners said they had no time to consider or challenge this evidence and that it ignored a number of factors that may have persuaded the judge to reach a different decision.
Days after the appeal was launched, HCC said: “Hertfordshire County Council is not aware of an appeal being lodged in this matter and we have not received any notification of appeal from either the Court of Appeal or the applicants within the required timeframe.”
But in a more recent statement, HCC has admitted: “The High Court has already ruled on this matter, and we are disappointed that taxpayers will be burdened with additional costs as we yet again defend our lawful sale.”
Their admittance suggests they have finally accepted that the appeal application was made in good time and it is now down to the judge – or judges – to rule on the grounds for an appeal to be granted.
Fight the Freight campaign leaders Nuala Webb and Terrie Smith responded to the statement: “The application for lodging an appeal has been accepted and now we are waiting to see if the appeal is granted.
“The land has always been used by the people who live round the airfield regardless of the grazing of sheep at times on the area and many are coming forward with written and photographic evidence. If anyone has any more, can they contact Save St Albans: Fight the Freight. The fight goes on.”
The hard work and endeavour of Save St Albans – Fight the Freight has provided hope that a different outcome for the future of the former Radlett Aerodrome can be realised.
Part of this will be continued public support to help fund this final challenge to reverse the sale of 300 acres of Green Belt and wildlife habitat.
The rail freight interchange operations will bring an estimated 3,000 additional daily HGV movements to the roads around St Albans, which equates to 33 miles of HGVs bumper to bumper.
There will also be approximately 7,000 other types of vehicle movements accessing the rail freight site daily.
Despite HCC’s claimed support of a clean air strategy, this will bring increased congestion and pollution to the surrounding area, which includes many homes and schools in the immediate vicinity.
Arguably, for a HCC spokesperson to say that taxpayers will be burdened with additional costs regarding the appeal court challenge is both premature regarding any ruling and insensitive in not taking into account how much this rail freight interchange will impact on thousands of residents’ lives south of St Albans.
