Conservationists win fight over station car park

Campaigners have won a battle against the expansion of a car park in a protected landscape that left them with a "ghastly" steel wall and street lighting "as bright as daylight".

The Dedham Vale Society said "insensitive development" at Manningtree railway station in Essex was a "blight" on a landscape made famous by painter John Constable.

Campaigners say their victory sets a critical precedent for all of England's 10 national parks and 34 national landscapes, previously known as areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Communities Secretary Angela Rayner has accepted there was an "error of law" when a planning inspector under the last government approved the development in May 2024 without observing a new legal duty to conserve and enhance these areas..

The Dedham Vale Society's chairman, Charles Clover, said expansions had brought 58 more LED streetlights to the station and that the Constable Country walk to Dedham and Flatford had been "wrecked" by the "ghastly wall".

Mr Clover said the development had taken out trees where he once heard a nightingale.

The campaign group took legal action, claiming the development by rail operator Greater Anglia should not have gone ahead without planning permission.

A judicial review was due to be heard in February, but the government has now conceded the decision has been quashed, and must now be reconsidered.

Mr Clover described the outcome as an "enormously important victory" for the area and other protected landscapes.

"It means the new statutory duty on official bodies to 'conserve and enhance' national landscapes and national parks in their decisions must be complied with by all official bodies. Few have been doing so," he said.

Dr Rose O'Neill, from the Campaign for National Parks, said it was a "hugely significant win".

She said: "For too long, government bodies, such as Ofwat, the Planning Inspectorate and National Highways, have turned a blind eye.

"The secretary of state's admission that this is unlawful paves the way for all others to wake up and take action."

Station operator Greater Anglia said it acknowledged the decision as an interested party and not the defendant.

A spokesperson said: "The decision will now be taken again by the secretary of state and it would not be appropriate to comment further on that process at this time."

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