Friday, 20 September 2024

Council set to defend Hatfield quarry refusal despite costs

Following our post on the subject last year, this news from July: 
Hertfordshire County Council has signalled its intent to defend its refusal to grant permission for a quarry on the site of the former Hatfield Aerodrome – despite a previous appeal costing it almost £150,000. 

Brett Aggregates lodged an appeal against the council’s refusal to grant planning permission for its latest application earlier this month. 

A 10-day Planning Inquiry has already been scheduled for November – where a Planning Inspector will review the decision issued by the council, in January. 

And that comes just three years after the county council defended its refusal of “substantially similar” plans for the same site at a previous inquiry.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service has now learned that costs incurred by the county council during that last inquiry, in November 2021, amounted to £147,421.84...
EDIT 24.9.24 Hertfordshire County Council withdraws reasons for refusal. Councillor Rose Grewal, Executive Member Planning provided the following statement: 
As Welwyn Hatfield’s Executive Member for Planning, I, along with the Joint Administration, am deeply disappointed by Hertfordshire County Council’s (HCC) decision to withdraw the reasons for refusal ahead of the upcoming planning inquiry into the proposed mineral quarry at the former Hatfield Aerodrome, citing prohibitive costs and a low chance of success defending the appeal.   

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council has continued to strongly oppose the proposal, raising concerns about the detrimental impact on public amenity, inappropriate use of the greenbelt, increased risk of land contamination and traffic impacts.     

Since refusing planning permission for the quarry in October last year, HCC have failed to build a robust case in defence of its decision. By choosing to withdraw the reasons for refusal, HCC has effectively chosen not to defend its original decision, meaning the views of the community and wider public interest will not be represented at the inquiry.   

Ellenbrook Country Park is a cherished green open space for our community and an important site for nature conservation. HCC’s decision is a significant blow to those who have fought tirelessly for many years to protect the site.   

We now call upon the developer, ARC, to honour the original Section 106 agreement made in 2001, when permission was first granted for the Hatfield Aerodrome development. By completing the outstanding establishment works and supporting the Ellenbrook Trust we can seek to ensure that the remainder of the Country Park is preserved for public benefit.

 


Groups still have some hope that the county council’s refusal of the application could be upheld by the Planning Inquiry, scheduled to begin on November 19. 

However, they do not expect to fight against the proposals at the inquiry themselves, amid fears that they could end up liable for costs that could reach £1m... 

In refusing the application earlier this year the council’s development control committee pointed to eight reasons. 

These reasons included the impact on the Green Belt and on residential amenity, as well as well as biodiversity, public access, the highway and groundwater. 

But on Tuesday committee chair Cllr Terry Hone pointed to legal and planning advice that had suggested that these reasons would not ‘stand up’ at a planning inquiry as well as the risk of potential costs that the council could face at the inquiry. 

Although estimates of these costs were not made public at the meeting, the Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that they are between £500k and £1m.
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