Protesters celebrate farm development victory

Protesters are celebrating victory in a legal battle against plans to build 473 homes on a former dairy farm.

The Court of Appeal has confirmed an earlier provisional ruling that planning permission for Westridge Farm near Ryde should be quashed.

It also ordered Isle of Wight Council to pay between £50,000 and £70,000 towards the campaigners' legal costs.

Christine Tout, from the Save Westridge Farm group which crowdfunded to pay for four years of court battles, said she was "very pleased" but was expecting another planning application.

Isle of Wight Council said it respected the court's ruling but highlighted it had declared the council's 2023 planning committee vote as "valid and lawful".

Ms Tout, who lives near the site, said: "Residents have always believed to develop a farm with a huge number of houses is wrong.

"The greedy and unlawful actions of the council and the landowner have been halted."

Isle of Wight councillor Michael Lilley, who also opposed the development, said: "Over 500 residents contributed to raise the funds through a crowdfunding site to fight this case.

"They and I deeply care about our community, Ryde Appley and Elmfield and the historic and environmentally important Westridge farmland."

The application was initially refused and then approved during a turbulent council meeting in 2021.

Some councillors who opposed the scheme were excluded from attending or voting on the grounds their minds were closed.

The meeting heard there were more than 500 objections, supported by a 4,000-signature petition.

The council confirmed its approval at a meeting in 2023.

It then agreed developers should pay £406,359 towards two road junctions, even though the firm had costed the work at £777,000, the Court of Appeal heard.

However, the council failed to publicise the so-called section 106 deal, thereby depriving campaigners of an opportunity to comment on it, judges previously ruled.

The authority said it was now considering its next steps.

The developer, Captiva Homes, said the council was well-placed to resolve the "technical" issue swiftly to allow the West Acre Park development.

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