Railfreight battle goes on

Anne Main comments on news that HelioSlough, the developer behind the Rail Freight plan for the former Radlett Aerodrome Site, has resubmitted their application to St Albans District Council.

Following the news that HelioSlough, the developer behind the Rail Freight plan for the former Radlett Aerodrome Site, has resubmitted their application to St Albans District Council, Anne Main, MP for St Albans said:

"The return of this proposal has been a blow to our community and the resubmission on the Thursday before Easter demonstrates the lack of regard the developer has for local people. It is not true that the only part of the Council's defence supported by the Planning Inspectorate was the lack of an alternative sites assessment, but rather that the argument was so strong on this that there wasn't the need to follow up on the other concerns.

HelioSlough recognises the impact such a development would have not only on the green belt but on the 'immediate locality', by which they mean the homes of thousands of my constituents. I do not believe there are any special circumstances for this case and I do believe there are other sites that are actively being considered for Rail Freight Interchanges, such as Sundon, Colnbrook and others, that do not have the constraints of our site - particularly with reference to the lack of motorway access and the utilisation of village roads.

This is a developer-led rebound application, submitted in an attempt to scrabble ahead of the queue of other more appropriate locations for development in a cynical money-making exercise. There are many new issues that have come forward since the last application and I hope that, given the revelations about the shortages of staff within the planning department, the Council will have enough key planning personnel to tackle this. I know that I will be working with STRiFE to ensure that we keep the public fully aware of the situation and how will be campaigning to get another refusal.

Even HelioSlough admits this is exactly the same application as the last one. I think it is deeply worrying that they are threatening, in their literature, the local authority with the possibility of asking for a call in. There is already specific new provision in legislation to stop exactly this sort of rapid resubmission of large proposals, which ties up a huge amount of resources in local authorities. My constituents deserve the full amount of time that they are entitled to in law for this proposal to be considered and budgeted for, and no developer should be allowed to play the system to their advantage.""