BATTLE lines are being drawn up after a judge ruled a judicial review will be held over a decision to allow a golf course and hotel to be built at a stately home.
Mole Valley District Council granted developers Longshot planning permission last year to develop Cherkley Court – a decision that has been disputed by the Cherkley Campaign and Surrey branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).
Campaigners were granted their wish for a judicial review at a High Court hearing last week, where Mr Justice Collins ruled that a judicial review would take place in the next two months.
The judge added the campaigners had "arguable" complaints with the district council's decision, which they deserved to have aired fully in court.
Andy Smith, director of the Surrey branch of the CPRE, told the Advertiser: "We are pleased that the High Court has given permission for the judicial review to proceed.
"It gives us a chance to stop irreparable damage being done to this precious and extremely sensitive chalk downland landscape."
He added: "We will continue to oppose the development of this site as a golf and leisure complex, and hope for a satisfactory outcome to the judicial review."
The 375-acre site, where press baron Lord Beaverbrook lived until his death in 1964, was closed to the public in 2009 before it was bought by Longshot.
The district council granted planning permission to change it into a luxury hotel and golf course with the understanding it would reopen the grounds to the public and create new jobs.
However, campaigners said construction work, which involves the application of herbicides and soil-stripping, would irreversibly damage the estate's biodiversity.
At the hearing on April 24, the court allowed a limited amount of work to go ahead pending the review on the assurance that the land would be restored if the development does not go ahead.
Longshot spokesman Nick Kilby said: "The campaigners will have their day in court but the judge did warn them that the case against them is very strong. We continue to be extremely confident that their case will be dismissed."
