The future of a housing development in Calne, Wiltshire, has been placed in doubt after the High Court allowed a claim for judicial review.
Two local residents opposed to changes in the plans for a 285-home development at
Unusually, the council has already conceded that its decision was unlawful because of its failure to carry out a environmental impact assessment (EIA).
However, Redrow Homes defended the decision and sought to persuade Ouseley J that he should not grant Phil Wrenn and Christopher Nicholson permission to bring their challenge.
The judge has ruled that their challenge is “arguable” and could proceed to a full hearing.
It was accepted that the council had not carried out an EIA of the reserved matters application and that it was arguable that the approval should be quashed because of that error.
It is also arguable that the reserved matters approval fell outside the scope of the outline planning permission because building sizes fell outside the range set out within that permission.
Wrenn and Nicholson claim that the reserved matters that the council approved propose a different number of buildings and units, of different sizes and in different locations and layouts.
They say that two-and- a half and three-storey buildings are proposed in two-storey areas, flats are being proposed that were not in the outline approval and the locations of routes and open spaces have been changed.
