Winemaker Chapel Down says it expects to hear the outcome of its latest legal hurdle over plans to build a £32 million winery this summer.

The Tenterden-based company wants to build a vast winery at Canterbury Business Park, off the A2 near Bridge, in April 2023.

It says while its current base has capacity to produce up to 2.5m bottles of wine, the Bridge scheme - which would see building work on an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) - would see that figure almost treble to more than 6m by 2032.

But the application has been bogged down by legal challenges since first being given the nod in April 2023.

And that has prompted Chapel Down - the biggest name in English wine - to “review alternative options to increase winemaking production capacity in the medium term”.

However, it is remaining tight-lipped about what those plans involve - and if any other potential Kent sites are being considered - until the current legal challenges are resolved. Nor would it confirm to KentOnline this week if it would move its headquarters to the site if finally approved.

In a statement, the company said: “Planning permission is subject to ongoing judicial review, the next step of which is expected to be completed by late summer 2025, when we will provide an update.

“We do not have any certainty on the final completion date of the planning process or its outcome. In the meantime, the company has been reviewing alternative options to increase winemaking production capacity in the medium term.”

Originally granted permission by Canterbury City Council, the local authority later voted to quash its own decision after legal concerns were raised about the approval.

Three months later the proposal was again voted through after a more detailed report was produced by council officers, addressing why the development was earmarked for a Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Environmental charity CPRE Kent later launched a legal challenge to the city council’s approval of the planning application, but local activist and Boughton-Under-Blean parish councillor Sarah Moakes took it forward and spearheaded the case in court.

An initial judicial review request - which challenges the way the decision was made, not the conclusion reached - was rejected last July - but the scheme remains in limbo as an appeal of that decision makes its way, slowly, through the High Court.

If it is granted, it will likely add many more months of delay to the project. If it fails, it is likely to be the final legal hurdle the ambitious project faces.

Meanwhile, the company’s latest financial figures reveal a sharp increase in debt and a dip in revenues. But it says it is on track for a return to “full profitability” in 2025.

In its figures for 2024, it revealed net sales revenues dipped by 5% to £16.4m from £17.2m the year before. While its EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) was down 58% to £2.4m (from £5.7m in 2023). Debts, meanwhile, increased 641% - rocketing from £1.2m in 2023 to £9.1m in 2024.

It put that down to the planting of more than 100 acres of new vineyards in the county and increased stock levels due to 2023’s exceptional harvest.

However, it said trade over the Christmas period had been strong and that momentum had so far carried into the first part of 2025.

Chairman Martin Glenn said: “Whilst 2024 was a tougher year for Chapel Down following the outstanding performance seen in the previous year, the business performed creditably, making continued strategic and operational progress. The prospects for Chapel Down as the leading English winemaker remain exciting.”