Plans to build more than 600 homes in a beauty spot have been stopped.

Two judges at the Court of Appeal today quashed the application for 521 homes and a 90-apartment retirement village at Farthingloe near Dover, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

CPRE (Campaign for the Protection of Rural England) Kent, which had lodged the appeal is celebrating.

But Dover District Council, which originally granted planning permission, is considering taking the case to a higher court.

And Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke has condemned the judgement, saying new homes are badly needed.

Lord Justice Laws and Lord Justice Simon allowed the appeal against last December’s judicial review on the basis that the council’s planning committee failed to give legally adequate reasons for granting permission.

This had been contrary to an officers’ recommendation which had criticised the density, layout and design of the scheme.

Council planning officers recommended a reduction in the number of homes to 375 and changes to the density and design to protect the most sensitive part of the landscape.

This was ignored by both the developer, China Gateway, and the planning committee, says CPRE (Campaign for the Protection of Rural Engand) Kent, which had brought the appeal.

The group’s chairman Christine Drury said: “This is excellent news – we have been absolutely determined to save this beautiful and historic area of countryside. The developer and planning committee knew the scale of the development – one of the largest ever proposed for an AONB - would cause severe damage but rejected all efforts to mitigate this.

"This case is not just important to the people of Dover but for the principles of planning law because AONBs have the highest possible level of protection.”

In his judgment, Lord Justice Laws acknowledged that it was “an unusual case” and that “the scale of the proposed development is unprecedented in an AONB.”

He said: “A local planning authority which is going to authorise a development which will inflict substantial harm on an AONB must surely give substantial reasons for doing so.”

He went on to conclude: “I consider that the Committee (Dover planning) failed to give legally adequate reasons for their decision to grant planning permission.”

But Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke said: "I am appalled by this decision.

"Everyone knows we need more housing. Yet self-appointed, out of touch campaign groups like the CPRE, are stopping the homes we need getting built.

"Where do the CPRE think young people are going to live?

"The uppity arrogance of this unelected, anti-democratic campaign group is breathtaking.

“The CPRE should listen to the young people of Dover, who desperately want new homes and stop undermining their hopes and aspirations of a better future."

The court had today quashed a decision to grant planning permission by Mr Justice Mitting in the High Court last December.

It was then that the CPRE's challenge to the granting of planning permission for the development at Dover Western Heights and Farthingloe was dismissed.

Dover District Council spokesman Andy Steele said: "The council is now considering its options with regard to appeal to the Supreme Court."