12 Jun 2024
Campaigners fighting the proposed freight terminal on hundreds of acres of Green Belt to the south of St Albans are considering whether to appeal after a judge denied their application for a judicial review into the way Herts county council sold the land.
Save St Albans: Fight the Freight claimed Herts sold the land unlawfully. They say that when the council agreed to buy the land in mid 1980s for just £1 it was on the condition it was preserved as permanent open space and could not be sold for development.
But in the High Court today Mrs Justice Leiven ruled that although that may have been the intention of councillors at the time of the sale agreement in 1985 and transfer of the land in 2006 it was not used as open space.
She pointed to two witness statements from local farmer Andrew Woollatt. She said that because he had occupied the land since 1972 it meant it was not open space under the terms of the Open Spaces Act. Mr Woollatt said under the terms of his tenancy since 2017 he was obliged to prevent trespasses on the land.
“It’s bitterly disappointing, ” said Cllr Nuala Webb, one of the campaign leaders. “The judge agreed that when the councillors agreed to buy the land in 1985 it was so they could protect it from development. This only makes the judgement harder to accept.”
Campaigners were also frustrated that key legal documents, correspondence and council meeting minutes from the period either side of the sale agreement are missing. “It’s astonishing that HCC, one of the defendants in this case, are also custodians of key evidence for key evidence yet insisted they couldn’t find it,” said Cllr Webb.
Save St Albans: Fight the Freight raised more than £60,000 to cover legal fees to take the case to the High Court.
” We now have to consider our options, ” said Cllr Terrie Smith, one of the campaign leaders. “We will consider an appeal. Support from the local community has been fantastic and we want to thank everyone who has donated. We believe we have grounds to appeal but we have to mindful of the potential costs and how an appeal could be funded.”
David Fosdick KC, the barrister for Segro also appeared to criticise the way Herts had handled the sale.
He drew gasps from the court when he said that had Segro known there were grounds for the sale to be challenged they might have abandoned their purchase. The £34m sale of the 300 acre Green Belt site was completed in June last year.
Segro have already started work on the site in preparation for a huge freight terminal. One of the warehouses will be bigger than Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport. Campaigners say that with no direct motorway access from the site the terminal will bring thousands of extra lorries and vans every day onto local roads which are already congested.
The group will consider the written judgement when it comes through next week before deciding their next steps.
A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council said: “The decision taken by the Judge today to dismiss the case prior to a judicial review is welcome and we will now turn our attention to working with the local district council to maximise the economic benefits that the sale will bring.”
