Lawyers for a campaigner who has twice failed to block Persimmon Homes from building a controversial £89m housing and leisure scheme in
Andrew Lockley, head of public law at Irwin Mitchell, who led local campaigner Kevin Lewis’s legal team, confirmed that an appeal has been lodged with the Court of Appeal against the High Court’s refusal to register part of the site as a town or village green.
The Coatham Links scheme will comprise 200 flats, 140 houses and a leisure complex on a 35-acre seafront site situated to the west of
Lewis, whose home backs onto the site of the former golf course, objects to the scheme and is concerned about its effect upon local bird populations.
Last month, he asked the High Court to quash Redcar and
The council’s refusal had been based upon the belief that although the land had been used by both golfers and local inhabitants for many years, the locals had paid “overwhelming deference” to the golfers and that consequently the latter had no rights over the land.
At the High Court, Lewis argued that the council had erred in its conclusion on “deference”, particularly in the light of the evidence that had been given by local inhabitants at the public inquiry.
On 18 July, Sullivan J rejected Lewis’s challenge but gave him permission to appeal on the ground that although his decision was founded on the facts, the implications of those facts depended upon the correctness of the “deference principle”.
He said: “It does seem to me that the ambit of the deference principle is something that is not determined, and therefore there is a real prospect of success in terms of the possibility of [Mr Lewis] being able to persuade the Court of Appeal to determine it differently.”
