Lawyers representing the parish council of a small Suffolk village have asked a London judge to stop developers from building a housing development near the community.Galliard Homes wants to build a 260-dwelling development on a derelict naval base on the Shotley Peninsular near Ipswich. As well as houses, the firm also plans to build a nursing home, a doctors surgery, shops and a small amount of office space.
Babergh District Council gave planning permission in 2013. However, residents of the village of Woolverstone are opposed to the plan and their parish council is seeking to judicially review the decision.
This is the latest in a spate of cases in which parish councils have fought back against district councils and planning authorities.
Earlier this month, the parish council of Old Hunstanton, a rural Norfolk village, defeated plans endorsed by the Secretary of State to build a housing development on their outskirts.
In today’s case, the parish council says that the site is unsuitable for a housing development because there is only one small B road going in and out of the peninsular, and it cannot support the volume of traffic the development will create.
“This is an unsustainable development as judged against the local plan and national policy – and yet it was given permission,” their barrister said at today’s hearing.
The development site is on an old naval base called HMS Ganges. The base was used for training recruits between 1905 and 1976, but has been derelict for 40 years. A number of heritage assets are on the site, including two Martello towers, a mast, and the remains of a fort.