Introducing our new proposal for the former Hatfield Aerodrome site

Welcome

Thank you for visiting our website for the proposed quarry on land at the former Hatfield Aerodrome, off Hatfield Road (A1057). On these pages, we outline our revised proposal for the phased quarrying of local sand and gravel at the site, including environmental considerations and restoration.

In making a fresh proposal we have taken on board the comments we received about our previous application and we have sought to address the reasons why that particular application was refused. In particular, we have made the following changes to ease concerns:

– Increased stand-off in the ‘Lower Mineral Horizon’ to 100m from the closest edge of the bromate plume
– No de-watering (pumping water out) from the ‘Lower Mineral Horizon’
– Moved the access road 5m east to allow for additional screening and sound mitigation
– Removed the proposed concrete batching plant from this planning application

This website forms part of our public consultation and your comments and questions are welcomed via our contact us page. The planning application (PL/0232/21) and associated documentation can be viewed here.

Essential local materials

Quarries provide essential materials for everything in our built environment. Sand and gravel will be needed for projects like Hatfield 2030+ to create new housing, rejuvenated community and leisure facilities, and improved transport infrastructure. The raw materials needed for building can only be sourced where they are naturally deposited beneath undeveloped land, such as the former Hatfield Aerodrome site.

Taking into account all available recycled materials there will still be a requirement for newly-quarried local sand and gravel to meet construction demand in the Hatfield area. The potential for this site to play its part in meeting the local need for sand and gravel has long been recognised. This is the reason why the site has been identified in Hertfordshire Minerals Local Plan since 2007.

Introducing our proposal

We propose to develop the southern half of the former Hatfield Aerodrome site (outlined in red). The sand and gravel would be quarried and processed on site and then supplied to building projects in the surrounding towns and villages.

Each phase of the site would be worked and restored over an average of five years.

The site would be progressively restored in a way that would enhance biodiversity and ultimately create an improved green open space for people to enjoy. Brett has a long history of award-winning quarry restoration that enhances landscaped for people and wildlife alike. You can read more about this at https://www.brett.co.uk/.

We have designed the proposal at Hatfield to align with national and local planning policy which focuses on mitigating and minimising any potential impacts and the progressive restoration of the site to a country park. A fresh quarry proposal means the environmental assessments can be brought up to date and we are able to renew our public consultation, incorporating feedback into our planning application. Find out more about our proposal.