28 Aug 2023
One of the biggest arguments put forwards by Herts county council for selling the former Radlett Aerodrome for a strategic rail freight interchange has been the huge financial benefit it will provide for local taxpayers.
Campaigners argue that HCC has failed in its fiduciary duty, not only over the value of the land vs the price paid, but also by entering into agreements which will place unnecessary financial burdens on taxpayers, such as unfunded infrastructure improvements like the A414, Park Street and London Colney roundabouts.
Last December, HCC leader Cllr Richard Roberts stated: “We did not seek this development. We did not seek a rail freight terminal on this site and we did not encourage it. The planning considerations have been considered and the only outstanding matter is that we meet our fiduciary duty towards our residents. In other words, we secure the best price for this land.”
But Radlett councillor Caroline Clapper refuted that this had been achieved: “We have a fiduciary duty to our taxpayers to protect and enhance the value of our assets, and selling this land goes against that very duty.”
It has now been confirmed that the former airfield was sold to rail freight developers Segro for just £120m, with HCC only taking £34m as their share of the proceeds from this transaction. The remaining £86m seems to be shared between other landowners Tarmac and the Gorhambury Estate, namely Lord and Lady Verulam.
We asked Tarmac to confirm the percentage of this figure they had received but they refused to provide any confidential commercial information.
Fifty per cent of HCC’s share will be deferred for 12 months, and funds received this year will be used to support the overall HCC capital investment programme and delivery of essential services, so are likely to disappear into a financial black hole with no perceived benefit as a whole.
Cllr Nuala Webb, one of the leaders of Save St Albans: Fight the Freight, said: “Now the council have finally admitted how much they’ve received for the land it confirms exactly how bad a deal it is. They have sold 300 acres of valuable Green Belt for £34m when independent valuations say a site that size for ‘big box’ warehousing is worth £220m.
“To make matters worse, they have no agreement with the developers to fund the £100m improvements to the roads – particularly the roundabouts at Park Street and London Colney – that will be required to cope with the additional traffic. That means those improvements will have to be funded by local people through their council tax. It’s staggering that any council could mismanage a process in this way.”
Meanwhile, questions remain outstanding over how the Thameslink rail line will cope with the increase in freight.
A statement from Segro released at the time of the land sale stated: “Rail freight contributes £1.7 billion to the UK economy, with each train removing up to 76 HGV journeys from Britain’s roads, helping to ease congestion and meet the country`s decarbonisation targets.”
The St Albans Times challenged this figure, highlighting how the gauge height on the Thameslink line meant each train could only take half that amount, and asked what involvement Network Rail was having in the development.
A Segro spokesperson responded: “As the owner of Britain’s railway infrastructure, Network Rail has been consistently supportive of the Strategic Rail Freight Interchange at Radlett throughout all stages of the statutory planning process. We have been working with them on the technical design of the railway infrastructure, including the connection to the Midland Mainline and gauge enhancement works that they will need to implement.
“Network Rail’s remit includes ensuring the interests of all stakeholders in the rail network are properly taken into account when considering the execution of the rail works that are required for Segro to meet its obligations to deliver the Radlett SRFI scheme, and we will continue to work closely through this process and to ensure the successful completion of this crucial element of the overall scheme.”
