A campaign group opposed to a massive housing development has had to abandon its High Court legal challenge.

Save Our Health Lands (SOHL) was refused a costs protection order (CPO) in its bid to obtain a judicial review against 5,000 houses at Lenham.

SOHL was hoping to advance its cause by securing an oral hearing with a judge under rules which would cap its liability for costs against the developers, Maidstone council and Homes England.

But the High Court refused to add the limit which is allowed under the Aarhus Convention.

SOHL said: “Without the CPO in place, it leaves members of the SOHL Committee having to provide personal liability for unlimited costs which could run to tens of thousands of pounds. This is something we simply cannot sign up to do, irrespective of our determination to get Heathlands thrown out.

“Regrettably, and after a lot of soul-searching, we have taken the difficult decision to no longer proceed with our claim. Although we were mindful that a challenge of this magnitude was always going to be difficult, we were hoping that we might have reached a more advanced stage of the process.

“What this has brought in to sharp focus for us however is the colossal David vs Goliath nature of challenging public authorities and more specifically the Heathlands proposals which have cast an immense shadow over our rural village for the last five years.”

Vocal critic of the development, chairman of Lenham Parish Council, John Britt said: “Yes, effectively, SOHL’s challenge has ended. But this is all a game of chess.

“Everything depends on Maidstone council and Homes England. There still remain many unanswered questions.”

The situation was complicated earlier this year when the then Conservative Maidstone council administration voted through the Lenham housing plan before losing power in May.

The incoming administration, led principally by the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats, are opposed to the development and are still seeking ways to block it going ahead.

Green council leader Cllr Stuart Jeffery said in June: “I want to fundamentally change the way we have gone about finding new places for homes, so I want to change it from the focus around large developments in two or three places to one that is more dispersed.

“We can’t avoid the pain but it can be shared more widely and shared across the borough in a fairer way. I may or may not be able to stop Heath Lands - that’s primarily in the hands of the courts.

“There may not be a route for me to stop it completely but we are exploring all the potential outcomes and risks associated with those. There is a whole raft of law and process designed to stop an incoming administration from ripping stuff up.

“All I can do is bring in a better plan as quickly as I can that supersedes the current plan but it won’t replace it immediately. That’s the planning law we have to deal with.”

Cllr Jeffery was approached for a comment.