High Court dismisses Milford residents' local plan challenge

Land proposed for development was previously part of Milford Golf Course

A High Court challenge against a borough council's plan for 11,000 homes has been thrown out.

Local residents Timothy and Isobel House took Waverley Borough Council to court after the authority drew up its local plan.

The housing blueprint included a proposed 190-home development near their Milford home.

The judge, Mrs Justice Lang, dismissed all three of the couple's claims for a statutory review.

Councillor Paul Follows, leader of Waverley Borough Council, said such "hypercritical scrutiny" of the inspector's report, as the judge had described it, was "not helpful".

The challenge was based on the proposed development of land that was previously part of a golf course in Station Lane, and whether or not a central government inspector had acted irrationally in deciding the site's protections could be scrapped.

Mr Follows said the council's job was to make sure there were enough new homes to support future growth, including "difficult decisions" about their locations.

He added: "It is impossible for everyone to agree on the most suitable locations, but it's important to respect the legal processes that underpin our national planning laws.

"Appropriate legal challenges are a central mechanism for upholding justice and ensuring accountability, but they can also be used as a tool to disrupt and delay important work."

He said that council officers' time spent on this case could have been "much better spent serving our local communities".

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