Court fight looms over playing fields school plan

Campaigners have said they are "not backing down" in their fight to stop a school being built on a recreation space.

Kent County Council (KCC) has long earmarked the playing fields at Church Street, Whitstable, for a new school for children with special educational needs and disabilities which would be built by the Department for Education.

Friends of Church Street Playing Fields applied for village green status to prevent development of the land.

Councillors on KCC's planning committee upheld a planning inspector's recommendation to deny the village green application. Campaigners said they would seek a judicial review in the High Court.

KCC said the 13-acre (five-hectare) site had been acquired for educational purposes, but residents argued the land had been used for recreational purposes by local people for more than 20 years, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

During a planning inquiry, KCC offered a possible compromise where 35% of the land would be used for a new school, allowing the rest for continued public use, but the panel dismissed the application.

Councillor Alex Ricketts told the planning committee meeting on Wednesday that hopes of reaching a compromise remained.

He said he had suggested the inquiry panel defer the decision and explore an option to free up land after a school was built, warning a judicial review "could incur significant costs".

Refusing the village green application denied residents the use of the space, he added, but approving it meant it could not be used for a school.

Councillor Dean Burns said after the meeting it had been a difficult decision, adding: "I really, really hope some sort of a compromise can be found."

In a statement, campaigners said: "KCC should be under no illusion, we are not backing down."

They said the village green application had been rejected on a "narrow legal argument" concerning the land's acquisition for education purposes nearly 100 years ago.

The statement said: "We believe there are serious questions about whether KCC can continue to rely on that historic acquisition when the proposed schools were never built and the land has remained open green space for decades.

"As such, we are preparing our challenge to the village green decision through judicial review."

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