Mike Penning MP has written to secretary of state Eric Pickles outlining his opposition to the proposed railfreight terminal on Radlett Airfield.

The controversial railfreight interchange would be built at Radlett Aerodrome between Park Street and London Colney near St Albans.

MP for Hemel Hempstead Mike Penning said: "Following recent meetings with local hauliers I am increasingly concerned about the impact that this huge development would have on our local area.

"The concentration of such a massive freight infrastructure in one place would attract the larger players in the industry to that location and detract from our existing local haulage companies, which would be detrimental to both their business operations and our position as a strategic location for the haulage industry.

"We have done a lot of work locally to recover from the Buncefield disaster and it would be another major setback if these proposals were to get the go ahead.

"I also have real concerns about the impact this development would have on the traffic in the area, particularly the M1 and M25 but also on our major trunk road system locally.

"The development proposals have been repeatedly rejected only to reappear under another guise."

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said in December, following two planning appeals, he was "minded to grant approval" to develop Radlett Airfield.

This was subject to developer contributions being agreed with the county council by the end of February.

Developers now have until November 15 to reach such an agreement.

HelioSlough Ltd, the developer, said its plans followed government policies to transport goods by rail and argued that the terminal was needed to serve south-east England.