A DECISION to approve plans for a warehouse close to Junction 7 of the M3 are "unlawful", according to the area's parish council.

Councillors voted in favour of approving the plans for a single warehouse at Oakdown Farm in April, whilst refusing outline plans for the wider project, known as Basingstoke Gateway.

The controversial project was first announced last summer, before The Gazette exclusively revealed that Amazon is set to occupy one of the units.

And today, Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, has weighed in on the argument, saying the plans must be thrown out to protect 67 oak trees that would be felled.

A petition campaigning for the protection of the trees has so far attracted nearly 100,000 signatures.

'Issue of material fact'

But now, Dummer Parish Council has asked Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to revisit the decision, threatening legal action if they do not.

They said that after taking legal advice they found an "issue of material fact" and that the decision did not "adhere to planning policy".

Exactly what was wrong is not being released in the public domain at this stage, with DPC writing to the council in accordance with the pre-action protocol for a judicial review.

The parish council have asked BDBC to re-run the meeting which saw the application approved, which "would avoid the expense that would be incurred if the borough has to defend a Judicial Review".

They have asked BDBC to respond within 14 days, although it was acknowledged that this would not be possible.

BDBC's development control committee, which is made up of councillors, made the decision in a hotly-anticipated meeting on April 7.

They decided that the 630,000 square foot warehouse would deliver employment opportunities, and that the impact on the landscape could be accepted.

The report added that mitigation would not result in "an undue loss of privacy" for neighbours and will have no negative impact on highway safety, drainage and biodiversity.

Can the meeting be re-run?

Usually, a decision notice would be issued after a planning application was decided, whether by councillors or officers.

But this is a unique scenario, because no decision notice has yet been issued.

This is because BDBC are unable to do this, after the authority was contacted by the Planning Case Work Unit at the government.

Five of Hampshire's MPs asked the Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick, to call in the application, which would mean that his department's decision would override the decision of Basingstoke and Deane's councillors.

MHCLG told The Gazette that they had received the request, but that no decision had been made on whether to call it in or not.

According to a spokesperson, the request will take time to decide.

The decision notice for the refusal of the outline application for the wider project has been issued.

Therefore, DPC claim that BDBC would be able to re-run the initial meeting before the decision notice is issued.

BDBC has been contacted for comment.