Hertfordshire County Council has yet to formally refuse an application for a quarry on the former Hatfield Aerodrome site – more than 30 days after councillors decided it should not be granted.

As part of the controversial application, Brett Aggregates want to extract around eight million tonnes of material from the site over a 32-year period.

On October 31, a meeting of the county council’s development control committee said the application should be turned down – against the recommendation of council officials.

However the formal ‘decision notice’ – which must state ‘clearly and precisely’ the full reasons for refusal – has yet to be completed.

A spokesperson for the county council has indicated that work on the decision notice is still ongoing.

“A planning application in relation of the site of the former Hatfield Aerodrome was considered by the development control committee and rejected,” said the spokesperson.

“Members of the committee are being consulted and a formal decision notice will be published by the county council in due course.”

Last week – at a meeting of the development control committee (November 28) – there were earlier indications of the work that was continuing, when minutes of the earlier meeting were not available.

Chairman Cllr Terry Hone told councillors that the minutes were drafted – but still not complete for publication.

He told councillors the minutes were "still in a state of draft because of our position regarding turning down the application".

He continued: “Therefore we have to list down our rationale and the reasons for turning it down.

“And officers are working on that and checking it with the lawyers and legal representatives to make sure it does reflect planning – and also does reflect the comments that we have made.”

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Cllr Hone indicated that councillors had been asked to make further comments, and concluded by suggesting the minutes would be complete, by the next scheduled meeting of the committee – on December 20.

“We expect to have the minutes including the rationale and the reasons for turning it down ready for the next meeting in December, which is unusual because we don’t normally wait a month,” he said.

“But these are substantial minutes and they are substantial discussions that were held – and we really need to get it right. Minutes will be at the next meeting.”