CAMPAIGNERS against the Park Street railfreight terminal project have toured an alternative site near Luton which they say would be a far better location.

St Albans Lib Dems including parliamentary candidate Sandy Walkington and Lord McNally toured a former quarry and landfill site at Sundon, just north of Luton, with members of the campaign group Strife on Friday.

The Sundon site has been earmarked as a potential goods yard by developer ProLogis, and although no planning application has yet been made the project, in contrast to the Park Street scheme, has been welcomed by local people and Luton MPs as providing jobs and a major economic boost.

Helioslough, which is about to submit a second application for the Park Street site, failed to force through the first mainly because it failed to prove its claim that there was nowhere else in the area immediately north-west of London to build a rail terminal.

Mr Walkington said: ““Although we had to peer through the morning fog as we walked over the site, we could see quite enough to demonstrate that Helioslough is wrong in claiming there are no other viable sites in this region apart from the Radlett aerodrome.

“Not only is Sundon close to Luton, where there is a crying need for new employment with the steady shrinkage of Vauxhall Motors and other major employers, but there is almost no immediately adjacent residential development.

“Contrast this with the massive impact Helioslough’s proposals would have on residents of Park Street, Napsbury Park and the whole south of St Albans, and it is clear that Sundon is a far more satisfactory option for a major freight terminal.

“Unlike Helioslough, ProLogis already has a serious track record of and expertise in developing freight terminals in the UK and is the world’s largest operator of industrial distribution units.

“The Sundon site is clearly a viable and better alternative.”