A parish council has failed in its legal challenge to halt hundreds of new homes being built on the edge of a village.

Maidstone council granted planning permission to Countryside Properties back in November 2015 for 220 houses to be built to the north of Headcorn.

The parish council had contested the decision all along saying planning officers had failed to properly consider the need for an environmental impact assessment.

An attempt to get the then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clark, to call in the decision also failed, so it sought a judicial review of Maidstone council’s actions regarding the plot, known as Hazel Pits on land off Ulcombe Road.

This week, Mrs Justice Lang dismissed their case.

The parish council's lawyers argued that the scheme had plainly raised environmental concerns about the impact of housing development on the highways network, residents in the area and the local economy, and that the Secretary of State had erred in not taking those matters into account.

It also argued that as a result his "screening directive" was flawed and so the subsequent grant of planning permission by the council was also unlawful.

The judge acknowledged that traffic issues had only been raised in the context of local traffic around Headcorn and not the cumulative impact on the A274 and other roads, combined with other housing developments.

But she found that the Secretary of State had treated transport and its environmental impact as a "main issue" when he came to make his assessment.

The Minister came to the view that the effects would be only local.

That was a view that "he was entitled to reach on the basis of the evidence before him."

She said: "He concluded there would be some environmental impact, falling short of 'significant'."

"In my judgement this was a legitimate exercise of his planning judgement which cannot be successfully expunged," she said.

Dave Andrews, chairman of Headcorn Parish Council's planning committee declined to comment until the council had had time to study the court's decision.

Dr Rebecca Driver, a researcher and economist who has been assisting the parish council to develop its Neighbourhood Plan, said: "This decision is very disappointing, especially as there was a strong case to answer.

"Maidstone's own evidence shows that this site performs very poorly in sustainability terms relative to other available sites and development is strongly opposed by local residents."