A planning inquiry to determine proposals for a quarry on the former Hatfield Aerodrome site will continue next week.

Brett Aggregates want to extract up to eight million tonnes of sand and gravel from the site, which sits between Smallford and Ellenbrook, over a 32-year period.

For the past two weeks, the planning application – which includes new access onto the A1057, an aggregate processing plant, a concrete batching plant and other ‘supporting facilities’ – has been scrutinised at a Planning Inquiry.

The inquiry follows an appeal put to the Planning Inspectorate by Brett, against a decision to reject the proposals by Herts county council, last September.

During the inquiry, planning inspector John Woolcock has heard from lawyers acting on behalf of the county council and Brett, as well as representatives of Colney Health Parish Council, Ellenbrook and Smallford residents’ associations.

Issues considered include the impact the quarry would have on the Green Belt and the risks associated with the bromate plume.

But at the end of the scheduled eight-day hearing, the parties had yet to deliver their ‘concluding statements’, with the presentation of evidence said to have taken longer than anticipated.

The hearing has now been scheduled to reconvene virtually on Monday, December 6 at 9.30am.

“The inquiry has made use of all the time that was allocated but this has not proven sufficient and the inquiry will sit, virtually only, on Monday, December 6 starting at 9.30am,” said a spokesperson from Herts county council.

“Links for attending will be available on the inquiry website before the meeting opens.”

Since lodging the appeal, Brett Aggregates has also lodged a further planning application for a quarry on the same site, which straddles St Albans and Welwyn Hatfield.

This further application does not include the erection and operation of a concrete batching plant.

It stipulates that there would be no pumping from the ‘lower mineral horizon’ and that the distance between extraction in that horizon and the bromate plume is increased, from 50m to 100m.

The access road from the quarry entrance would be moved by five metres to the east, in order to allow for additional acoustic screening.

On the first day of the inquiry, Brett asked for the ‘changes captured within the 2021 application’ to be considered by the inspector.

But the inspector has not yet made a decision on this point – which he is now likely to do in his written appeal decision, following the closure of the inquiry.

Until now the inquiry has been held in a hybrid form with attendance in person at the Fielder Centre, in Hatfield, and online.

But the session on Monday will be virtual-only with links to be made available on the inquiry website before the meeting opens.

In addition to concluding statements, the session will also include a discussion on suggested planning conditions and legal obligations.