Greater Anglia station car park row goes to High Court in ‘national test case’ over planning law

A row over a station car park – which includes a retaining wall compared to the Berlin Wall - is set to be heard in the High Court in what’s been described as a national test case about building projects in rural areas.

Dedham Vale Society (DVS) in Essex is contesting the Planning Inspectorate’s decision to not let Tendring District Council take enforcement action against Greater Anglia (GA) over the car park extension at Manningtree station.

Completed in 2020, 236 spaces were added along with a steel retaining wall and high intensity lights. GA said it had been able to “rely on permitted development rights” to build the extension without going through the planning process. The car park backs onto the St Edmund Way pilgrimage footpath in the Dedham Vale National Landscape.

DVS is now bringing what it described as a national test case to protect National Landscapes (formerly known as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) from developments which do not follow Section 85 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. The act says public bodies “must seek to further the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the area of outstanding natural beauty”, with the society warning that areas could be “blighted by insensitive development” if the law is not enforced.

Charles Clover, Chairman of DVS, told RAIL the society accepted more parking spaces were needed, but that when the scheme was proposed he said Greater Anglia “must put it through the planning system” so the effects of the enlarged car park on the landscape “could be properly considered and reduced”.

Clover accused GA of behaving ‘arrogantly’ towards locals and ‘ignoring’ the community. Trees and shrubs alongside St Edmund Way footpath were removed to make way for the steel wall.

He also told the BBC: "You see how well the railway fitted into the landscape, and how badly this new development does. They didn’t care how it looked from the outside, didn’t care it was a rusty wall with no hedge or screening.”

A two-storey car park and bike shelter with bright lights were also installed.

Tendring District Council served an enforcement notice in February 2024 to remove the wall, but this was withdrawn three months later when it received directions from the government that said the work did not require an Environmental Impact Assessment as the work “would not be of a scale and nature likely to result in significant environmental effects”.

Clover said the inspector failed to consider Section 85 when making that decision.

“We think that by authorising this development – in the face of strong opposition from local councils and local bodies such as the Dedham Vale Society, the CPRE and the Ramblers Association - the Government has ignored its own law,” a DVS spokesman added.

A Greater Anglia spokeswoman said it “would not be appropriate” to comment in detail due to ongoing litigation, but said the firm “agrees with the Secretary of State that there was no error” in the decision that the site does not need an EIA, and the decision was “correct”.

The spokeswoman added: “This means that Greater Anglia is able to rely on permitted development rights that benefit railway operators, and therefore there was no need for planning permission for the car park extension.”

A Planning Inspectorate spokesman said: “As a judicial review is pending, we are not in a position to comment.”

DVS is now crowdsourcing to fund its legal challenge which will be heard in February.