STROUD District Council is seeking a judicial review into a controversial decision by a planning inspector to allow a 52-home development in Kingswood near Wotton-under-Edge.

Chief executive of the council David Hagg was met with thunderous applause when he slammed the inspector’s decision on the proposed Chestnut Park development as “highly questionable” at Kingswood’s annual parish meeting last Wednesday.

The news of the council’s legal challenge comes just as another planning application targeting the village was submitted by Persimmon Homes.

“The decision of the planning inspector was highly questionable,” said Mr Hagg.

“I have read the decision and I found it incomprehensible. The judicial review is based on points of law and we believe the planning inspector has misdirected himself.

“We are now just past the point of submission and the judge will have to decide whether there is a basis for the challenge.”

The application by Crest Nicholson was originally rejected by SDC’s development control committee in March last year. A number of reasons were cited for the refusal decision, including the impact it would have on great crested newt populations, the effect on social hubs like the village hall and cricket club, and the impact on the landscape and surrounding roads.

Despite the wealth of reasons behind the development’s refusal, planning inspector Harold Stephens reversed the decision last month following an appeal by the developer, suggesting the plans were in fact sustainable and that the ecological impact – and other effects – we’re acceptable.

In response, the district council launched their legal challenge against the decision, centred on the fact the development area is not marked as a location for sustainable development within the local plan.

A spokesman for the council said the secretary of state for communities and local government Eric Pickles (on whose behalf the appeal was allowed) and Crest Nicholson have been served with the claim documents. The spokesman added that a decision on whether the judge would allow the review to go ahead would likely be heard sometime in the summer.

A spokesperson for Crest Nicholson said: “We are aware of the proposed judicial review into the secretary of states’ decision and are working with our advisors to establish the effect this might have on planning permission.”

In the meantime, members of action group Keep Kingswood a Village and residents are fighting another application for 61 homes and access on land off Wickwar Road from Persimmon Homes.

Adrian Dann of Hillesley Road said: “The primary school is full, the roads get blocked at peak times and the walk to Katharine Lady Berkeley’s School is dangerous. Everyone is using computer models to calculate road capacity and risks, but they do not reflect how Kingswood operates.”

Ian Richardson of Orchard Walk added: “I feel that whole character of Kingswood village is being destroyed by the relentless expansion of housing. Enough is enough.”

Persimmon Homes declined to comment on the objections.