28 Mar 2023
This is the view from the homes of residents living in Hampden Place, Frogmore, a vista which will be devastated by the proposed rail freight terminal on the former Radlett airfield.
Neighbour Susie Taylor said: “This will destroy our neighbourhood and our lovely community. The warehouses will be at the bottom of our gardens.
“Where we currently back on to delightful and peaceful Green Belt land that’s home to wildlife including owls, skylarks and some rare great crested newts, we face the prospect of being overwhelmed and suffocated.
“Our views will be blighted by huge warehouses, operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year all bringing noise and light pollution.”
Last week, Herts council leader Cllr Richard Roberts told demonstrators from Save St Albans: Fight the Freight that he had inspected the site from the Tarmac tower in Harper Lane.
“That’s more than a mile away and the other side of the M25,” said Susie. “If he really wants to see what impact this development will have he should come and see those who will have to live alongside it.”
Similar freight terminals elsewhere in the UK have at least a mile between them and the nearest residential areas, but the proposed Radlett terminal is bordered by housing in Frogmore, Park Street, Napsbury and London Colney.
Russell Stobbart, who has lived in Hampden Place for 28 years, is angry at the lack of communication from HCC about the sale of the land.
“If the county council leader came here and looked at what’s being proposed he’d scratch his head and wonder how anyone thought this was a good idea.”
Another resident, Tolga Bayam, said the development will ruin the area. “The main reason we moved here was because it is quiet. When you live next to Green Belt you expect it to stay as Green Belt, not find that the land will become a huge lorry park.”
Mr Bayam added: “ I’ve seen similar terminals, such as Sundon Quarry on the M1, which all have direct motorway access. That’s not happening here so all the additional traffic for the site will use local roads which are already congested.”
Herts CC say the developers will install a new relief road around Park Street.
“This won’t bring relief to us, “said Derek Higgins, another Hampden Place resident. “The proposed southern entrance is right alongside our road. But it’s not really a by-pass because it seems there will be restrictions on HGVs from Colney Street using it. Instead, we’ll still have lorries thundering along Radlett Road in front of us but we’ll also have additional traffic right alongside and behind us as they enter and leave the terminal.”
HCC has agreed a sale price of around £30m for the 300 acre site despite a market value as big box land of around £225m. The county council has also failed to secure an agreement with developers to fund the £100m improvements to local infrastructure, including upgrades to the roundabouts at London Colney and Park Street, and they are expected to pick up the bill.
St Albans district councillor Nuala Webb said: “It is typical of Cllr Roberts’ mismanagement of this whole affair that he finds time to look at the site with colleagues from Tarmac, who also stand to gain from selling land adjoining that owned by Herts county council, but he doesn’t bother to seek the views of the people who will suffer directly if the sale goes ahead.”
A petition against the sale has now attracted 6,000 signatures.
