A DEDICATED residents’ group has vowed to continue fighting to save Green Belt land earmarked for housing after the High Court threw out their legal challenge against the council.

Keep Bourne End Green said it “cannot simply lie down” after the High Court of Justice rejected its claim the then Wycombe District Local Plan had “manoeuvred around” its own guidance on tearing up the Green Belt to build hundreds of homes.

The group has been engaged in a four-year battle to save land being removed at Hollands Farm between Bourne End and Hedsor to make way for 467 properties – and, it says, 800 homes in total in Bourne End and Wooburn.

But the campaigners’ legal bid was cast out by Mr Justice Holgate on Thursday, prompting the group to rally its troops to contest the decision at the Court of Appeal in August.

It is now rousing others in the community to offer “financial and morale-boosting support” in the next chapter of its campaign.

Councillor Warren Whyte, cabinet member for planning and enforcement at Buckinghamshire Council, said he is “absolutely delighted” with the High Court ruling.

“Whilst I recognise that the Local Plan involved making some difficult decisions about the scale of new development and where that new development should take place, I believe that this was done in a fair and reasonable way and in a way that fully involved local people. I am pleased that the judge has upheld the council’s position,” he added.

Keep Bourne End Green has been contesting the “lawfulness” of the Local Plan adopted in August 2019, arguing the then Wycombe District Council (now consolidated into the unitary Buckinghamshire Council) had made a legal error in projections it used to calculate housing targets.

It contested the removal of land at Hollands Farm between Bourne End and Hedsor to make way for 467 homes and “whether the council had complied with habitat regulations”.

The Plan sets a target for just under 11,000 homes in the former Wycombe District area over a 20-year period.

The campaign group was earlier this year granted permission to take its claim to the High Court for a two-day June hearing.

Although the group claims the government’s own 2016 projections show a “significant decline of 43 per cent in housing requirements for the Wycombe area”, backed up by a newer study that the land  requirements “do not meet the ‘exceptional circumstances’ required”, their claim was dismissed in the High Court this week.

Keep Bourne End Green has set up a donations page to raise the funds necessary to escalate their campaign to the Court of Appeal by August 13.

“The High Court Judgment is very disappointing, but not entirely unexpected,” said Keep Bourne End Green spokesperson, Stuart Wilson.

“The court had previously deemed the case to be ‘significant’; had KBEG’s claim been upheld, it is quite possible that the other parties would have sought to appeal, so the next stage is perhaps inevitable.

“Our community cannot simply lie down and accept this intolerable and unsustainable level of housing development across our villages. We are not against sensible levels of housing, but our planning system seems able to manoeuvre around its own guidance on using an up-to-date evidence base and Green Belt protection under the guise of ‘national policy’ and ‘planning judgment’.

“We always knew this would be a long fight and we now move on to the next stage in the Court of Appeal on behalf of the local community.”

For more information on how you can support this campaign, email: stuartpwilson@btinternet.com