Residents' sadness as they lose legal battle to stop homes being built in Warsash

An appeal by Brook Avenue Residents Against Development (Barad) sought to overturn planning permission granted by Fareham Borough Council.

The court of appeal unanimously dismissed allegations that permission for an eight-home development in Egmont Nurseries, Brook Avenue had not complied with relevant planning and habitat legislation.

Barad further alleged that the council had not taken Natural England’s advice on nutrient pollution - which has an adverse effect on marine life in the Solent.

Barad member Valerie Wyatt said: ‘We’re disappointed obviously - Fareham have not been protecting the borough in the way they’re supposed to.

‘If you actually read it all, it is, on the whole, saying that Natural England's advice is just that.

‘It is guidance, it’s not statutory, therefore they don’t have to follow it, they just have to use their planning judgement and decide whether they have complied with the law themselves.

‘If the council is going down this road it’s not possible for individuals as we’ve discovered because the system is stacked against them.

‘If local residents think something is a bad planning decision this is the only route they can go down.

'If a planning committee rejects a plan the developer can go to appeal which is a very different process. They don’t have to show that something was unlawful, they can just question the planning judgement of the authority.

‘We’ll just have to take each site as it comes following this, we will have to do our best.’

Barad had previously challenged the council’s decision in the high court which was dismissed in May 2021.

Councillor Nick Walker, chairman of the planning committee said the council takes its ecological responsibilities ‘extremely seriously’.

He said: ‘We have gone to great lengths to develop a strategy that protects the wildlife habitats in the Solent, whilst enabling the homes to be built that the government requires the borough to accommodate.

'The council’s approach to decision making has now been tested on two different occasions by two different courts and found to be sound.’