SWINDON Council now faces a ‘high stakes’ battle for the future of Coate.

After the shock refusal of the latest plans on Tuesday night, the council could now be forced into defending the move at a costly public inquiry.

The decision to tear up the plans was ‘unprecedented’ said planning committee chairman Coun Dale Heenan, and saw councillors ignoring the advice of their own professional planning officers, and a QC hired to advise them.

And although an appeal is likely, developer Persimmon told the Adver it is still considering its options – it could appeal, reapply, or simply cut its losses and walk away.

A public inquiry would see members of the planning committee called to the stand to give evidence in what Coun Heenan (Con, Covingham and Nythe) described as a mini trial.

Councillors, conservation campaigners and the developer would lay out their cases in front of a planning inspector, who would make a decision.

But if the council lost, the development could go-ahead anyway with even less protection for the park than before – plus leaving the council stuck with a legal bill that could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“It has never happened before on the planning committee, that we’ve actually thanked the officers for their advice, and then declined to take it,” said Coun Heenan.

“We’ve formed our own opinions and agreed with residents, despite the legal minefield.

“These are very high stakes. We could win big, or we could lose big.

“Our decision is unprecedented in the history of Swindon Council since it was formed in 1997.”

The developer, the Swindon Gateway Partnership – made up of house builders Persimmon and Redrow, is likely to be served with a formal notice of the plans’ refusal on Monday.

Paul Davis, Persimmon’s strategic land director, said: “We’re considering our options. We’ve not made up our minds what we’re going to do yet. It’s not known when we’ll come to a decision. When we do we’ll let everyone know. But we’re not there yet.”

He said an appeal seemed ‘the obvious riposte’, but added: “We could put a new application and start again. I’m not saying that’s a possibility because honestly we haven’t decided yet.

“Or we could say we’ve spent so much money on this we’ll just throw in the towel.

“It’s a possibility; we have to work within our own financial guidelines. All things are being considered.”

Redrow simply said it would have to wait until it gets the letter to make a decision.

Coun Heenan said if an appeal is forthcoming, a public inquiry would begin with three months.