Legal action taken by St Albans council in a bid to stop the building of a massive rail freight depot in Park Street has reached the end of the line.

The council has decided not to go for an oral hearing before the Court of Appeal against the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government’s decision to grant planning permission to developers Helioslough for the Radlett Airfield scheme.

An oral hearing was the final course open to the council in its legal action and the decision not to pursue it followed an unsuccessful challenge in the Court of Appeal last month.

Rejecting the council’s challenge to several contentious issues in the planning permission, Lord Justice Sullivan said that he considered the council’s grounds of appeal did not have a real prospect of success.

And the council has now decided to end its challenge in the court. Council leader, Julian Daly said: “We brought our case against a rail freight interchange at this site because we consider it to be harmful to our Green Belt.

“However, the Judge’s written opinion is clear and given our own legal advice, we have taken the decision not to appeal further.”

The next step will be for the county council, part owner of Radlett Airfield, to decide whether or not they want to sell the land to Helioslough.