Turnden: we apply for judicial review of government verdict on housing plan

Challenge based on enhanced duty of decision-makers to seek to further the purpose of conserving and enhancing national landscape

CPRE Kent is going ahead with its challenge to the government’s decision to permit a housing development in the High Weald National Landscape.

Following our pre-action protocol letter in relation to the granting of planning permission for 165 houses at Turnden, near Cranbrook, made by Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook on behalf of Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, we have now applied for a judicial review.

Our solicitor served a sealed claim on the three defendants – the Housing Secretary, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and Berkeley Homes – on New Year’s Eve and the defendants have 21 days to respond with their Summary Grounds of Resistance.

Our challenge is based on the enhanced duty of decision-makers under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to seek to further the purpose of conserving and enhancing the national landscape.

CPRE Kent, the countryside charity, believes that the case is of wider significance for the standard of statutory protection that such landscapes enjoy.

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