The High Court will consider whether to review Hertfordshire County Council’s sale of a former airfield to a rail freight company.
Campaign group St Albans: Fight the Freight launched a legal challenge over the local authority’s decision to sell Radlett Aerodrome to Segro for a reported £34m last year.
The firm plans to develop a strategic rail freight interchange on 1,000 acres of land, of which 300 acres was owned by the county council.
Campaigners believe the sale was flawed because the council bought the land, for a nominal fee of £1 in 1985, as open space for the community.
They say the proposed development will result in green belt land being ‘irreparably damaged’ and ‘immense’ levels of traffic caused by freight vehicles in and around St Albans.
A Hertfordshire County Council spokesperson said: ‘We continue to be confident that the sale of the land in Radlett to Segro for use as a strategic fright rail interchange was undertaken in accordance with all due processes.’
The High Court will hear the issue as a ‘rolled-up’ hearing, which means that after oral submissions, the judge will determine whether a judicial review should take place later on the same day.
The hearing is set to take place ‘as soon as possible’ after 3 May.
