Campaigners have vowed to continue their fight against plans for two sprawling housing estates after losing their legal challenge in the high court.

Protestors from the A28 Environmental Crisis Group were seeking judicial reviews on the grounds the city council flouted rules when approving an application for 370 homes at the old Chislet colliery.

They claim when planners looked at the environmental impact of the scheme, they failed to take into account the 250-house Hoplands Farm development which will sit right next to it.

The sites are located next to the Stodmarsh nature reserve, which is a special area of conservation and heavily protected by European laws.

But a judge has now ruled the council did consider the overlapping environmental impacts of both schemes and said they can proceed.

Mrs Justice Lang also refused the campaigners permission to appeal.

But Campaigner Antonie van den Broek, from Westbere, says they are going to take the case to the Court of Appeal.

He said while the group is disappointed, they are not surprised.

“Favourable rulings would potentially have set significant precedents for local authorities and developers throughout the UK,” he said.

“But this is not the end of the story.

“We think errors have been made by Canterbury City Council and the developers.

“This particular judge has said otherwise and also refused our applications for permission to appeal her decisions, but we are going to take this to the Court of Appeal.

“These things are never about whether something is a good idea or not. It’s about whether the law was followed.”

Mr van den Broek says their principle argument is the council failed to consider the cumulative impact of both schemes.

“It’s an unusual situation in that there are two developments side by side and by two different companies,” he said.

“Therefore the law deems them as separate. We’ve been arguing you can’t do that with the impact on the environment. The environment doesn’t care whether it’s one developer or two.”

The council claims with mitigation measures funded by developers, there would be no adverse effect on protected sites.

Chairman of the council’s planning committee Cllr Ian Thomas said: “We are naturally pleased to have won both of these cases, which will allow these important housing developments to go ahead.

“It is becoming increasingly common for opponents to new homes to launch these types of legal proceedings.

"We are always very careful to ensure we follow all the right procedures, so that if we do end up in court, we have a good chance of winning.”

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