Update on the Ellenbrook Fields Planning Inquiry
Welwyn Hatfield Labour is providing an update to constituents regarding the ongoing Hatfield Aerodrome Planning Appeal. Our local team, including Andrew Lewin MP, Labour Councillor Beth Kelly, and our wider group of representatives, has been consistently vocal in opposing this quarry.
In a detailed letter to the Planning Inspectorate, Andrew Lewin expressed the community’s concerns. He argued that the proposed quarry would result in the “irreparable loss of a vital community asset for a generation” and described the prospect of thirty years of industrial activity as an “unacceptable burden” for local families.
Standing with Our Community
Andrew further noted that the so called “temporary” nature of the site, spanning over three decades, is not a timeframe that the people of Hatfield should be expected to endure. This stance is shared by our local councillors, who are working tirelessly alongside residents to protect our local environment from the disruption of large-scale mineral extraction.
These efforts are supported by Council Leader Cllr Rose Grewal, who recently reaffirmed the administration’s position in a formal statement regarding the decision to reopen the inquiry. She stated that Ellenbrook is a cherished green space for Hatfield residents, supporting health, wellbeing, and access to nature, and remains a strategically significant site for conservation.
Protecting the Country Park
The Secretary of State has directed that the inquiry be reopened specifically to consider an Updated Public Access Strategy, replacement phasing drawings, and an Environmental Statement Addendum.
How to Have Your Say
While our representatives continue to review these new technical documents, we encourage interested residents to look at the further information within the Reconvened Inquiry Documents at CD17.01 to CD17.05.
If you wish to make a representation regarding this specific new information, please do so in writing before 15 March 2026. You should send your comments to Joanna Vincent at [email protected] (Gateley Hamer, One Eleven Edmund St, Birmingham B3 2HJ), quoting appeal reference APP/M1900/W/24/3346607.