Unfortunately, Basildon Council’s appeal against the Secretary of State, Hazel Blear’s decision to allow building at Barn Hall was struck out by Robin Purchas QC, Deputy High Court Judge, on 19 February 2009. His judgement was that the Council had no grounds on which to appeal her decision - basically because, in law, she is entitled to do what she did in giving more weight to national planning considerations rather than rely, as the Council and the Planning Inspector had done at the Public Inquiry, on there first to be a review of the Local Plan which had put Barn Hall into its present status as Special Reserve. The Council’s QC argued his points well but, at the end of the day, there was simply no way to overcome the Secretary of State’s case in law - which doesn’t say much for local democracy but does ‘speak volumes’ about the reality of the planning laws in modern Britain.

After a tremendous fight over more than two years - which even saw us win before the Planning Inspector at the Public Inquiry - WNGAG has now sadly concluded that we’ve reached ‘the end of the road’ in fighting this development. Neither us nor the Council can now stop some sort of development at Barn Hall. So what happens now?

It is important to realise that, at present, all that has been gained by the developers, Gleeson Homes Ltd and Gladedale Group Ltd, is the principle that they can build at Barn Hall. They will now have to ‘firm up’ their proposals and replace their outline planning application with a detailed and substantive application for Basildon Council to approve or not. Or, in the current economic climate, now that they’ve gained planning permission, they may decide to sell on the land at a profit, to another developer who would then also need to submit a detailed planning application.

WNGAG’s focus has changed. We will monitor what happens now. We must work to ensure that any development which does take place at Barn Hall is the most suitable type of development for this part of Wickford and for its existing residents. We’ll publish details of the developers’ substantive planning application, when it’s made, on this website and submit our comments to Basildon Council’s planning department. That will also be the time for all residents, who feel adversely affected by the developers’ detailed proposals, to submit their views, objections etc to Basildon Council, following the guidance which will then be available on our Take Action page.

WNGAG wish to place on record their appreciation of the unanimous support given to us by past and present Wickford (and Essex) residents who so desperately wanted to preserve this lovely countryside at Barn Hall for the enjoyment of future generations. In over two years, not one single person has ever said to us that they were in favour of building over these green fields. But central government has dictated that is what will now happen. Sometimes ‘you’ve just got to keep on trying to do what you feel is right’ and we will certainly continue to strive for what we feel is now best for North Wickford. Thank-you for your continued support.