A JUDGE quashed planning consent for 37 homes after a conservation group successfully challenged West Oxfordshire District Council in the High Court.

The council approved the development proposed for Rushy Bank, just outside of Charlbury, in November 2015, despite fierce objections from residents and conservation organisations.

Believing that the council’s planning team breached national guidelines by approving the development despite the land being protected, the Friends of the Evenlode Valley and West Oxfordshire Cotswolds successfully challenged the decision with a judicial review.

The council will now have to bring the application, submitted by Rushy BP Ltd, back before one of its planning committees, which is expected to happen in September.

Jim Clemence, of the Friends group, said: “It will now go back to committee and the officers will have to review it again, reflecting on the fact that they made errors before.

“This is encouraging to other groups who are trying to do the same thing.

"The consequences for Charlbury of allowing development on the far side of the Evenlode cannot be overstated."

Rushy Bank lies in the Evenlode valley in the Cotswolds Area of Natural Beauty, 400 metres from the edge of Charlbury and beyond the river and its flood plain which form its natural boundary.

The starting point for authorities assessing planning applications is the local plan, alongside national policy.

When the adopted local plan is out of date, as it is currently in West Oxfordshire, national policy generally requires authorities to apply a presumption in favour of sustainable development. However the same policies require that this presumption is not applied in Areas of Natural Beauty unless there are exceptional circumstances.The Friends of the Evenlode Valley applied for a judicial review against the decision on this point and, earlier this month, a judge ruled that the planning permission should be quashed and that the council should pay the conservation group's costs.

A spokesman for the Cotswold Conservation Board, which objected to the original application, said: "The board did not agree in the planning balance, that the local need outweighed the detrimental impact the development would bring on the character and scenic quality of the AONB landscape in this location.

"Development of this greenfield site, outside and away from the settlement boundary, would have a negative impact on the special character and qualities of the AONB and lead to a precedent for future development of this nature. There may be opportunities to make provision for this need either locally elsewhere within Charlbury or indeed through sites that have been identified as suitable through the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment process."

Mr Clemence now hopes the council will restart the whole process and consult on the application again.

A spokesman for the district council said: “Our decision to grant approval in this case was quashed. It will need to be reconsidered by the area planning sub-committee at an appropriate time.”

The council did not disclose how much money it spent during the judicial review process.