Fareham to Gosport bus link proposal set for Supreme Court appeal
A campaigner fighting against a controversial bus link has won the right to take her case to the highest court in the land.
Viv Morge has been granted permission to have her case against the 20 million Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scheme between Fareham and Gosport heard by the Supreme Court.
The court only came into existence last October and only hears appeals on points of law deemed to be of the greatest public importance.
Miss Morge, of Wych Lane in Bridgemary, is arguing that the three-mile route along the disused train track will harm protected species, such as bats, living in the area.
Her solicitor, Graeme Swain, said: 'This is a major victory for Miss Morge. The court has granted permission to appeal to the supreme court.
'They have decided that the case should be decided as soon as possible.
'Both sides agreed that the Court of Appeal was wrong in its analysis, and the courts have clearly accepted that by giving permission for this to go ahead.
'We would say there's a major doubt as to whether this scheme should continue to be funded. We are saying that in our view it would not be appropriate to continue funding between now and when the courts meet.'
Miss Morge's case was rejected by the Court of Appeal last month. Since then Hampshire County Council has begun working on the project in earnest. Work had previously been put on hold because of an injunction.
The county council needs to spend the government cash by March 31 next year, or ministers will pull the funding.
But the county council denied yesterday's verdict was a victory for Miss Morge as two out of three grounds of appeal had been rejected.
Councillor Mel Kendal, in charge of environment matters for the county, repeated the authority's commitment to the scheme and said: 'We welcome the court's decision not to grant an injunction and are very pleased that we can now effectively go ahead with building the BRT scheme.
'Although the judges have allowed the third ground of appeal, this is really in order to clarify a point of law for the future rather than any inherent problem with the BRT planning consent. This will have no direct impact on progress with the work.'
No date has yet been set for the hearing.
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