Pickles signals support for rail freight terminal in SE Green Belt

Planning

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has given the green light to a controversial plan for a major rail-connected warehousing development on Green Belt land in Hertfordshire.

Pickles wrote to developer Helioslough just before Christmas saying he was minded to approve the construction of a Strategic Rail Freight Interchange (SRFI) on land in and around a former aerodrome at Radlett, near St Albans. Final approval is subject to a satisfactory Section 106 agreement being submitted by the end of February.

The announcement represents a U-turn in the Government’s thinking on the proposal. In July 2010 Pickles rejected the development, despite the local public inquiry inspector recommending that it be approved (LTT 23 Jul 10). Pickles ruled that the development was inappropriate for the Green Belt and suggested that a rival development at Colnbrook in Slough, beside the M4/M25 intersection, could be a better alternative. 

The High Court quashed Pickles’ original decision in 2011 on the grounds that the Secretary of State had failed to properly explain his reasons for disagreeing with the inspector’s recommendation (LTT 15 Jul 11).

In his new letter to Helioslough, Pickles reiterates his belief that the proposal represents “inappropriate development” in the Green Belt, adding that “in the absence of very special circumstances, it would conflict with national and local policies which seek to protect the Green Belt”.

He agrees with the inspector that the proposal will “contribute to urban sprawl and cause some harm to the setting of St Albans”.

But Pickles also acknowledges the DfT’s policy to promote Strategic Rail Freight Interchanges (SRFIs), particularly in the South East where there is a lack of such facilities. The need to provide more SRFIs in the region is a “material consideration of very considerable weight”.

He says he is satisfied that Network Rail can make the train paths available to accommodate rail services to the terminal, which would lie on the Midland Main Line.

Pickles says that there is a “lack of more appropriate alternative locations for an SRFI in the north-west sector which would cause less harm to the Green Belt”.

Overall, he concludes that the benefits of the development outweigh the harm and that the development should be approved, subject to Helioslough submitting a suitable planning obligation by 28 February.

The decision has been criticised by St Albans City & District Council, which rejected the original planning application. The council is taking legal advice on the content of Pickles’ letter.

It is unclear what impact Pickles’ announcement will have on the plans of Prologis for a rail freight terminal on the Midland Main Line at Sundon, just to the north of Luton, in Central Bedfordshire. Central Bedfordshire Council sees the Sundon development as the catalyst for a Luton Northern Bypass, linking the M1 to the A6 (LTT 14 Sep 12).

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