Elstree & Borehamwood Greenbelt Society has vowed to do all it can to block the plans to build a rail freight terminal it says would "cause mayhem".

The £300m interchange would be built on the former Radlett Airfield site in Park Street - the only piece of greenbelt land between both Borehamwood and St Albans.

Earlier this week, St Albans District Council launched its challenge to Eric Pickles' decision to grant planning permission in the High Court.

Mr Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, initially rejected the appeal from developer Helioslough but changed his mind last July.

A ruling will be published in “due course”.

Pat Strack, the membership secretary of the greenbelt society and and Elstree & Borehamwood Town councillor, said: “I don’t think anybody can measure how disruptive this will be – it is simply not a good idea.

“Nobody can foretell what kind of mayhem and chaos this could bring to Borehamwood and the surrounding area.

“We can’t understand how Eric Pickles contradicted himself in the way he did. We fully support the decision to challenge him in the High Court.”

The group says the freight terminal would bring an extra 3,000 lorries into the area each day, with 2,000 workers' cars coming and going and an extra 5,000 vehicles on the roads.

The group also fears that in light of incessant recent delays on the Thameslink Govia Line, it is clear that railway links between Elstree & Borehamwood will not be able to cope with the added pressure of heavy load trains.

Cllr Strack added: “The overhead bridges are not big enough to safely allow a freight train to pass through, meaning they will have to go up to Cricklewood, do a loop, and come back down to Park Street. It’s ridiculous.

“The bridges will have to be raised and tunnels will have to be lowered to give them enough space. On top of that, it’s going to create an excessive amount of pollution.

“We just can’t take it. It’s going to wreak complete havoc on Borehamwood.”

The green belt society has donated money to campaign group Stop the Rail Freight Interchange (STRiFE), which was also represented by lawyers in the courtroom.

Conservative’s James Clappison MP, Anne Main MP, and Oliver Dowden, prospective parliamentary candidate for Hertsmere, all attended the hearing.

Mr Dowden said: “This would be a disaster for us. It would destroy precious green belt, clog our roads with thousands of lorries and after Thamelink's recent disastrous performance, the last thing in the world we need is more disruption to our trains.”