R (on the application of Helioslough Ltd) v Secretary of State, St Albans DC and Goodman Logistics Developments Ltd (High Court)

Statutory challenge; Green Belt; SRFI; alternative sites Guy Williams acted for the Interested Party in this statutory challenge. This was a challenge to the decision of the Secretary  of State to refuse to grant planning permission for a Strategic Rail Freight Interchange at Radlett in St Albans. The Claimant had promoted an SRFI with approx 330,000 sq m of warehousing. The reason for refusal focused on the Interested Party's alternative proposal for an SRFI at Colnbrook near Slough. The Claimant argued (unsuccessfully) that the Secretary of State had acted unlawfully in considering the particular scale of the Colnbrook proposal in considering alternatives as part of a Green Belt assessment; and (successfully) that the Secretary of State's reasoning in relation to the treatment of the Strategic Gap at Colnbrook was inadequate.