Live Webcast of Rail Freight Terminal decision

There will be a live webcast at 7pm on Monday 19th February of the planning committee which is due to finally determine the planning application for a Strategic Rail Freight Interchange and distribution centre near Park Street.

For details of how to watch it see www.stalbans.gov.uk

Last November we had a three hour meeting in front of hundreds of people in order not to take a decision on this application. The decision was deferred last time because the government's Highways agency had not arrived at a view on the impact of the proposal on local trunk roads. They have now recommended refusal. So has the County Council as Highway authority for the non-trunk roads, and the council's professional planning officers.

I have to be careful what I write about the merit of the proposals in order to avoid creating any appearance of bias which could be used to seek a judicial review of the decision. However I trust nobody will object to me saying that I really hope that after months of analusis and debate I hope we will actually manage to take a decision on the application next week.

The venue for the meeting has been changed to the Alban Arena (in other words, a theatre which seats several hundred people) to accomodate the anticipated attendance.

This will be one of my last meetings as a St Albans Councillor: having moved to Copeland I will step down from the council in St Albans at the May elections. But my last few weeks as a St Albans councillor are certainly not proving uneventful, especially on the planning front. A month later we have another application, this time for a new cinema and 170 flats at the Bricket Road site in St Albans, which will in some ways be even more controversial.

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