Isle of Wight campaigners file legal bid to preserve tenant farm

Houses have already been built alongside the farm

Campaigners have filed a legal challenge to plans to build 473 homes on a tenant farm.

The Save Westridge Farm group on the Isle of Wight said it raised £39,300 for the case by crowdfunding online.

Lawyers for the group said an application for a judicial review had been lodged at the High Court.

More than 5,000 people previously signed a petition supporting efforts by the tenant farmers, the Holliday family, opposing the development.

The family had farmed on the land near Ryde for 55 years.

As tenant farmers, Nigel and Amy Holliday had permission to farm the land at Westridge Farm for three generations and their son, Archie, was next in line to take it on.

Archie had also featured in a social media video in which he said he wanted to be a farmer "like my dad, grandad and great-grandad".

However, the Hollidays said in 2022 that they had given up their campaign "with a heavy heart" and would leave the property.

The Save Westridge Farm campaign group said the case had implications for farming, climate change and food security.

Developer Captiva Homes previously said the development would protect 80 local jobs and create 473 "desperately-needed" homes - including 166 affordable homes.