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Court papers submitted in an attempt to halt a controversial development going ahead have been unveiled.
Campaign group Save Princes Parade has launched a judicial review - a process under which executive or legislative actions are subject to review - in the latest attempt to stop the ambitious project, which will include 150 homes and a leisure centre, being built on the green land opposite Hythe seafront.
Folkestone and Hythe District Council granted planning permission for the multi-million pound scheme, which will run parallel to the Royal Military Canal, despite objections from residents and the town council.
The campaign group has now released its ‘statement of facts and grounds for Judicial Review’, which has been lodged with the High Court of Justice. The council says in response that it plans to defend its position.
The 18-page document claims the “decision to grant planning permission is plainly unlawful” and focuses on two grounds of challenge.
The first ground states that the officer’s report “significantly misled the planning committee that the application breached both the Core Strategy Local Plan and TM8 and LR9 of the Shepway Local Plan.”
The document makes reference to council literature outlining its policies for the area, such as: “In order to preserve the open character of the site and to enhance the setting of the canal, any use should be low key.
"Built development will only be acceptable where it is essential for the use and should be limited in scale.”
Another council policy about future use of the land stated the “majority of the site should remain open”.
On the back of these policies, and others listed in the court papers, the campaign group argues: “It is impossible to know what conclusion the planning officer, and subsequently the planning committee, would have reached had they concluded that the proposal failed to comply with these policies.”
The basis for ground two is: “The officer’s report significantly misled the planning committee by failing to apply policies in the National Planning Policy Framework in relation to ‘areas at risk of flooding’.”
The report concludes: “The claimant respectfully requests that permission to claim judicial review be granted.”
The group hopes for three remedies: a quashing order of the decision of the council, costs and “further, or alternative, relief”.
It is now awaiting the judge’s decision to give them permission to proceed to the substantive hearing stage.
The development on the former waste disposal site will include 150 new homes, a hotel, shops, green spaces, a children’s play area and a leisure centre with a swimming pool.
Land around Martello Lake has been suggested as an alternative site for the scheme by the campaign group, but in August, the leader of a council, Cllr David Monk, declared there is "no credible alternative" to the controversial housing development.
An online fundraiser set up by the group to help fund the process has raised more than £4,000.
A Folkestone & Hythe District Council spokesman said: “We are aware that a request to seek permission to apply for a judicial review has been lodged, and we are currently considering the nature of this claim.
"We believe we’ve followed due process and we plan to defend our position.”
