Dagger Lane Elstree: 17,000sqm warehouses set for approval

Up to 17,000 square metres of industrial and warehouse floorspace on Green Belt farmland at Dagger Lane, Elstree is recommended for approval at Hertsmere’s planning committee on Thursday 10 September.

The scheme was deferred at the August meeting so officers could reassess it against the 2026 National Planning Policy Framework. They have now done so, and the rewritten report reaches the same answer by a different route: the land is grey belt, so the development is not inappropriate in the Green Belt, and it should be approved unless the harm substantially outweighs the benefits.

It is one of six applications on the agenda, and officers recommend approval of all six.

What is being decided on Thursday

None of the six is in Borehamwood. Four are at Elstree and Aldenham, one is in Potters Bar, and the committee itself meets at the Civic Offices on Elstree Way.

The Dagger Lane site, and what would go on it

The application site is 5.57 hectares inside a wider 15.79 hectare parcel the applicant owns, in the Aldenham West ward. It is grassland and rough pasture with no buildings on it, bounded by the A41 and the M1 to the west, Dagger Lane to the north and Elstree Road to the south. Aldenham Country Park, the farm shop and campsite, and Aldenham Reservoir are immediately east.

The proposal is three buildings for industrial, storage and distribution use with ancillary offices, up to 17,000sqm in total, reached by a new access off Elstree Road. Only the access is being decided now. Scale, appearance, layout and landscaping are all reserved for later. The applicant is the Kara Family Trust, with HGH Consulting acting as agent.

The grey belt argument, in plain terms

Under the 2026 NPPF, Green Belt land counts as grey belt if it is previously developed, or if it does not strongly contribute to three of the Green Belt’s purposes: checking sprawl from large built up areas, stopping neighbouring towns merging, and preserving the setting of historic towns.

Officers conclude the Dagger Lane site clears that bar. On sprawl, the report leans on the council’s own AECOM Green Belt Assessment, published for the Regulation 18 Local Plan consultation in April 2026, which found the wider parcel makes no contribution to that purpose. The report’s reasoning is blunt about why: the site is not near a large built up area, and the only large built up area in Hertsmere is Borehamwood. National guidance says villages do not count.

Once the land is grey belt and the other GB7 tests are met, the report says the scheme is not inappropriate development, and the balance flips towards approval.

The number that frames it

The council’s own evidence base puts a figure on how much industrial floorspace Hertsmere needs. The AECOM Hertsmere Economic Study of April 2026, quoted in the report, projects industrial employment growing by 7.5%, or 653 jobs, between 2025 and 2041, and translates that into a net additional requirement of about 14,428sqm of industrial floorspace, roughly 3.2 hectares, by 2041, after allowing for vacancy rates and existing supply.

This one application is for up to 17,000sqm. And it is not the only one. The report records that an outline permission for 18,409sqm of B2/B8 development at Land South of Aldenham Reservoir, on the A411 about 300 metres to the south east, was approved by the same committee in June 2023 and issued on 3 July 2024.

Who objected

The council notified 367 neighbours. It received six objections and no letters of support. That is a thin postbag for a scheme of this size, and it partly reflects how few houses there are within notification distance of a field between the M1 and a country park.

The organised objections came from elsewhere. Aldenham Parish Council objects on five summarised grounds:

• loss of Green Belt
• the site’s position next to Aldenham Country Park, downwind of vehicle noise and emissions
• loss of Grade 3 agricultural land
• traffic movement and congestion
• industrial units being hard to screen, and the loss of Category B trees to make the Elstree Road entrance

CPRE Hertfordshire also objects, on Green Belt grounds.

Almost every statutory consultee raised no objection, most subject to conditions. That includes Hertfordshire County Council’s highways team and National Highways, which between them concluded the road network can take the traffic. Historic England declined to advise and suggested seeking local heritage advice instead.

What the borough would get

The report sets out heads of terms already agreed with the applicant. The financial contributions are:

• £294,528 towards expanding or re-providing Borehamwood Fire Station
• £213,500 towards the council’s emerging Local Walking and Cycling Infrastructure Plan near the site
• £6,000 over five years to process and monitor the travel plan
• £4,263 as a biodiversity net gain monitoring fee
• £420 per trigger point in the final agreement, as a county monitoring charge

Biodiversity net gain would be delivered off site, on other land the applicant owns, secured for at least 30 years.

On jobs, the report cites 138 during construction and, once operational, up to 380 direct jobs plus 167 in the supply chain. It also estimates around £1.4m a year in additional business rates.

The rest of the agenda

Eight houses at Church Lane, Aldenham (25/1326/FUL). Also Green Belt, and also inside the Aldenham Conservation Area, and also judged grey belt. This one did draw a response: 52 neighbours notified, 15 objections, three letters neither for nor against, and no support. Objectors dispute the grey belt finding itself, and raise the village’s lost bus service, flooding, aircraft noise and the junction. Two of the neutral letters asked for swift bricks, one per house, and for five or six homes instead of eight.

A day surgery clinic in Potters Bar (26/0248/FUL). A 1,176sqm warehouse on Station Close would become medical or health use, with consultation and examination rooms, diagnostic and treatment space. Officers note it is a day surgery rather than a GP surgery or physiotherapy clinic, so it would draw fewer patients per day than either. Nine neighbours were notified and nobody responded.

A 3G pitch at Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls (25/1774/FUL). A synthetic pitch with fencing plus new grass pitches, on Green Belt land at Aldenham Road. Eight neighbours notified, no responses.

Bhaktivedanta Manor (25/0138/FUL). Refurbishment of the Goshala building, a new agricultural barn beside it, a glasshouse replacing existing polytunnels near Holland Farm, and oxen cart and pedestrian routes linking the farm to the Goshala.

The Hertsmere golf course, 30 Watling Street, Elstree (25/0170/FUL). The driving range would be extended with changes in ground level to its north, east and west, and the 12th, 16th and 17th holes reconfigured. This is the other item tied to a section 106 agreement.

What it means for you

• If you want to speak, you have to phone on the day. The council takes registrations on 020 8207 7550 between 10am and 4pm on Thursday 10 September, first come first served. Only one person may speak for an application and one against, three minutes each. Applicants can bump someone who has already registered in favour.
• The order of items can change on the night, so the council warns that timing cannot be guaranteed.
• Dagger Lane would not be settled on Thursday even if approved. The recommendation is to delegate the decision, subject to a section 106 agreement, and to refer it to the Secretary of State to consider calling it in under the 2024 consultation direction. Approval by the committee starts that process rather than ending it.
• Only the access is fixed at this stage. Scale, appearance, layout and landscaping all come back as reserved matters, which is a second chance to comment on how the buildings actually look.
• The meeting is at the Civic Offices, Elstree Way, Borehamwood WD6 1WA, from 6pm, and Hertsmere films its planning meetings and keeps them online.

Related

• Borehamwood planning news: what else is in the pipeline across the borough.
• Borehamwood roadworks and travel: including the A411 through Bushey and Elstree, the road this scheme would feed on to.
• Things to do in Borehamwood and Hertsmere: Aldenham Country Park, next door to the site.

Sources

• Hertsmere Borough Council, Planning Committee agenda, Thursday 10 September 2026 and its front sheet of applications for determination for the six items and every officer recommendation.
• Officer report for 25/1108/OUT, Dagger Lane, updated for the 2026 NPPF for the site description, the grey belt assessment, the consultation responses, the section 106 heads of terms, the jobs and business rates figures, the AECOM floorspace requirement and the nearby consented scheme.
• Officer report for 25/1326/FUL, Land at Church Lane, Aldenham for the eight houses and the objection counts.
• Officer report for 26/0248/FUL, 8 to 9 Station Close, Potters Bar for the floor area and the day surgery use.
• Officer report for 25/1774/FUL, Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls for the pitches.
• Hertsmere Borough Council, Speaking at planning committee meetings for the registration process, the phone number and the three-minute rule.

Checked against the sources above on 7 September 2026. An officer recommendation is not a decision; the committee can and does depart from one.