A flood of protest from local residents has forced designers to reduce the size of the press hall and to come up with a new layout to allow access to loading and delivery areas from the A10 side of the 40-acre site.

Peter Quaile, principal planning officer at Broxbourne Borough Council, said that around 50 individually penned letters and "several hundred" pro forma letters had arrived at the council in protest at the plans. He said that the proposals were now likely to be put before the planning committee on 2 August.

In the revised plans, the height of the press hall has dropped from 35m to 31m, and its length has reduced from 115m to 107m. Quaile said: "If you were walking past it that might not make a lot of difference, but it's a significant change."

A power plant at the site has moved to the southern side, near the M25, while two liquid petroleum gas tanks have been dropped from the plans altogether following a decision to run forklift trucks by battery.

Story by Josh Brooks