Cherkley Campaign Receives a Double Whammy

To those who have been supporting Cherkley Campaign Ltd (CCL), there are, I regret to say, two pieces of bad news.
Firstly, the Supreme Court has not allowed CCL's appeal to the Supreme Court as it deemed not to raise any arguable point of law which is of "public interest." I give below statements issued by the Chairman of CCL and by Andy smith, Director, CPRE Surrey:

STATEMENT FROM TIM HARROLD, CHAIRMAN, CHERKLEY CAMPAIGN Ltd:

Obviously we are extremely disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision. The Supreme Court has said that the appeal is not of ‘general public importance’.  We had hoped to restore the original robust judgment of Mr Justice Haddon-Cave that Mole Valley Council’s grant of planning permission to Longshot was contrary to planning policy, and that it was irrational and unlawful.

Cherkley Campaign has at all times acted in accordance with best-quality legal advice; but the courts go their own way, and are free to disagree with one another.

We are very grateful to all our supporters. We continue to believe that the majority of the area’s residents are unhappy with this commercial development of a beautiful landscape, and we continue to think that the natural landscape was worth fighting for.

STATEMENT FROM ANDY SMITH, DIRECTOR, CPRE SURREY:

Having objected to the Cherkley development, we are dismayed by the Supreme Court’s decision not to allow Cherkley Campaign’s appeal, especially as the first legal judgment in the Cherkley case - that by Mr Justice Haddon-Cave in the Judicial Review last year - was so overwhelmingly against Mole Valley Council and Longshot, and was a systematic endorsement and justification of Cherkley Campaign and CPRE's arguments.

It is a tragedy that the environmental and planning process issues which this case raises will not be aired before the Supreme Court after the conflicting judgments in the courts below.  It is becoming clear to us that, due to the Government's 'planning reforms', the whole planning system has been subverted to advance a political agenda, which is to push economic growth at any cost and to give carte blanche to developers at the expense of the environment. The consequences of this latest judgment will be felt for many years to come and will greatly increase the risk to countryside and green spaces throughout England.

Secondly, although the judge in the Court of Appeal this morning appeared to be sympathetic to the argument that MVDC had acted illegally in relation to the environmental assessment of the planning of the golf course, he refused CCL's application on technical grounds. I give below the statement issued by CCL concerning the Landscape & Ecological Management Plan (LEMP):

CCL Press Release on LEMP case

The Court of Appeal heard this morning CCL’s application to challenge the legality of Mole Valley District Council’s decision that the planning permission conditions for Longshot’s golf course development to proceed had been satisfied.

Cherkley Campaign is disappointed by the CA's decision to refuse to allow this challenge to continue. Lord Justice Aikens appeared sympathetic to the arguability of CCL’s basic case that the Council had acted illegally in relation to environmental assessment of the planning of the golf course; but the application was refused on technical grounds.

This was a double blow for CCL, as the Supreme Court has recently refused permission for CCL to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal (overturning the High Court’s robust judgment in CCL’s favour) in the challenge to the lawfulness of the grant of the planning permission itself.

At the Court of Appeal this morning, CCL had to break the news of the Supreme Court’s decision, which CCL had only found out about yesterday by chance, to the court as well as to a stunned MVDC and Longshot.

Kristina Kenworthy of CCL, who was in court said, 'We feel vindicated in having brought this further case because Lord Justice Aikens did appear to consider the merits of the case arguable. But we are disappointed that legal technicalities have apparently stopped the Courts from allowing a challenge to protect, in the public interest, forty acres of pristine chalk grassland in a designated Area of Great Landscape Value, part of which is also in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, to proceed.’

27.11.2014

It is very frustrating that arguable points of law cannot be resolved in the courts for technical reasons. I am sure those who have supported the Campaign feel as gutted as I do. If, as a last gesture of support, you would like to make a donation towards our costs via the MyDonate website click here. I know it would be very much appreciated by Surrey CPRE and the directors of Cherkley Campaign Ltd.

Thank you