Swain & Co Solicitors obtain injunction for the second time
Preparation work for the proposed £20m bus route on old railway tracks between Gosport and Fareham will now be on hold until a court decides if it can go ahead.
Last month a judge in London gave the go-ahead to the Bus Rapid Transit scheme after Viv Morge took Hampshire County Council to court over the plans, saying they would damage wildlife and have a negative impact on neighbours.
But the Court of Appeal has now given Mrs Morge permission to appeal against the decision - and it will now go to court for a second time. The court also ordered work to stop until the case is resolved.
Miss Morge 57, who lives less than 100 yards from the bus corridor in Wych Lane, Bridgemary said: 'I'm please. I was upset when it didn't go through but my solicitor has been really working hard on it and I feel better now.
'It's a lot of money to be wasted on something that's not going to be used. It's just going to make the road traffic congestion worse.
'People aren't going to get on a bus to go to Fareham , especially if they have children. The council have to stop building things. We can't have any more development down here.
'They are taking all the greenery away. We just don't need a great big road on a single railway track. What they are doing is silly.
'I just don't know why they don't do something with the Stubbington by-pass. Or why don't they do something with the Quay roundabout in Fareham?
'That's where all the traffic congestion problems are.
'These little animals come along and make their home. The badgers are a protected species, but nobody seems to know that. I'm just fighting for them.
'What right has a human being got to take animals lives for a road that goes nowhere?
'There are a lot of houses that back on to this railway line.
'I'm just trying to save a bit of the planet. I think we have got enough roads.'
Solicitor Graeme Swain, who has been representing Mrs Morge in court, said: 'Yesterday, the Court of Appeal in London gave permission to Mrs Morge to appeal the decision to refuse to quash the planning consent for the bus transport scheme along the old railway line between Fareham and Gosport.
'The Court also granted an injunction to stop the development of the former railway line until the outcome of the appeal is known or the order is modified or discharged.
'The Court did so having decided that all three grounds for appeal have a real prospect of success.
The Court also took the view that two of the grounds raised important issues of principle.
‘The matter will now proceed to an expedited hearing of the appeal.
‘The granting of the injunction was essential to ensure that the appeal did not become academic with the works being done before the appeal could be heard.
‘I am obviously very pleased that the Court shared our view that the appeal has a real prospect of success and that the injunction was granted. There are crucial environmental issues at stake.
‘The appeal is based on planning and environmental principles relating to habitats and assessments. Preservation of the wildlife and the environment is paramount.'
No date has yet been set for the appeal.
In October, Miss Morge took her case to the Royal Courts of Justice in London in an attempt to stop the project.
During the hearing, the county council's legal team said there would not be a ‘significant degree of disturbance' to animals living along the bus corridor.
But Graeme Swain argued that the work clearing the tracks to make way for the bus corridor was causing serious damage to badgers in the area.
And he said the scheme would have a negative impact on ‘commuting' bats who feed and nest in Oakdene Woods, near Holbrook.
Please click here to read the article as published in The News 4 December 2009