CAMPAIGNERS who took a council to court over what they felt was a flawed planning policy believe they have a good chance of success.

Members of Chalfont St Peter Parish Council challenged the future of the village’s former Holy Cross Convent School by taking Chiltern District Council to a High Court Judicial Review last week.

Their challenge was based on a perceived failure of Chiltern District Council to follow their own planning policies when they gave permission for 200 new homes and a care home to be built on the site of the former school.

Parish council members said the purpose of the challenge was to quash the decision to grant the development permission, and so alternative proposals for housing together with an educational site and playing fields could be properly explored.

Those proposals, known locally as the Arrowcroft Plan, are favoured by the council.

Parish council chairman John Hatton said after last week’s Judicial Review: “The Parish council did not take this action lightly. This is the biggest issue that has affected our community since the [planning] errors made in 1960s and it is very important that we get it right this time.

“We had many public meetings attended by hundreds of villagers and we carried out a full village survey that went through every door. In addition we have ensured that the alternative Arrowcroft Plan was fully consulted with the village and that we have engaged with Bucks Education Authority and the Diocese of Oxford to ensure that a move of the Church of England School is realistic should we be successful in court.

“Whether we win or lose it cannot be said that we did not carry forward a plan that the overwhelming majority of this community wished us to champion; we will not have another chance so have had to take action on this occasion.”

Vice Chairman Richard Allen added: “We have shown through the village survey that our position is the position of the majority of parishioners and that it has been consistently ignored by the District Council hence the reason we took legal action to enforce EU Planning Directives.

“Whilst it’s not possible to always predict how judges will decide the issues,  having managed a successful Judicial Review against the Channel Islands in 2012 I feel more positive about this case prior to judgment than I felt about that one.”

The final judgment is expected within a matter of weeks.