A number of campaigners could be seen protesting at a popular St Albans landmark last weekend, after their petition to halt the sale of Green Belt land was "blocked".
The protest, organised by 'Save St Albans: Fight the Freight' took place on Saturday (June 17) at Gorhambury Estate.
The campaign group had been petitioning to halt the sale of Green Belt land for a new rail freight terminal, on the former site of Radlett Airfield.
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This petition to Hertfordshire County Council, on Change.org, received more than 8,600 signatures.
However, a recent change to the local authority's constitution means that any petition from third party sites will not be accepted.
A petition on Hertfordshire County Council's own website had previously been created, which requested that a full public consultation take place prior to any sale of the land.
Hertfordshire County Council have now agreed to go ahead with the sale of the land, but the sale has not yet taken place.
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Earlier this year, a second petition - similar to that created on Change.org - was refused from the County Council's website due to it relating to the same decision.
Cllr Nuala Webb, one of the campaign's leaders said: “All the time, Herts CC have tried to silence us and any opposition to destruction of green belt for a freight terminal.
"This is just another undemocratic move by Herts CC which is hellbent on pushing this deal through, against the wishes and to the detriment of their residents.”
A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council added: "The council has always had a clause within our constitution to forbid repeated petitions relating to the same decision within any six month timeframe."
The spokesperson added that it is "difficult to verify petitions" hosted on third party sites, hence "rules were formalised to only accept petitions that are lodged through the HCC website".
'Save St Albans: Fight the Freight' intend to take the matter to a Judicial Review, should the land sale be completed.
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