Hamble Parish Council v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government & Ors

Facts

Cemex UK Operations Ltd applied for planning permission to extract sand and gravel from the Former Hamble Airfield in Hampshire, a former airfield of flat open land with no landscape, ecological or historical designations, but lying some 300 metres west of the Solent and Southampton Water Ramsar Site, the Lincegrove and Hackett's Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest, the Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation and the Solent and Southampton Water Special Protection Area. Hampshire County Council refused the application and Cemex appealed to the Secretary of State, who appointed an Inspector, Stephen Normington, to hold a public inquiry. The Hamble Peninsular Defence Group was represented and argued that Cemex had failed to demonstrate beyond reasonable scientific doubt that the development would not adversely affect the integrity of the European and Ramsar sites, calling hydrology evidence from Dr Tony Clothier and ecological evidence from Mr Richard Andrews to the effect that removing the river terrace deposits would change a shallow hydrograph into a steep one and so disturb the freshwater flows on which habitats depend. Natural England did not object. The Inspector allowed the appeal. Hamble Parish Council, a constituent member of the group, challenged the decision under section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 on three grounds. Lang J refused permission on the papers on 20 February 2026, and the application was renewed at an oral hearing.