A developer says it is "delivering its promise" of world class hotel, golf course and spa after the High Court refused to let countryside campaigners launch a second judicial review.
Longshot Cherkley Court is pressing ahead with its £50m development, which campaigners argue will wreck the precious ecology and landscape of historic estate Cherkley Court near Leatherhead.
On Wednesday the High Court refused permission for a second judicial review, over the approval of an environmental management plan, and ordered the Cherkley Campaign to pay costs, capped at £10,000, to the developer and council.
Longshot has said it is delighted that the judge, Mr Justice Jay, decided the campaign’s grounds were without merit, out of time and abuse of process, having already been argued in the last judicial review.
Its spokesman Nick Kilby said there has to be a point when the campaigners finally accept that not liking something does not mean you can stop it from happening.
He said: "At what point is the Cherkley Campaign going to accept they have challenged us, said we are wrong and in the courts we are proved right.
Cherkley Court, the former home of press Baron Lord Beaverbrook
"At what point do they stop putting the local authority in a position where it has to defend itself against something the court has said is not the case."
Yesterday Tim Harrold, chairman of the Cherkley Campaign, said they were considering their legal options because "it was clear that something had gone wrong with the decision-making on the Landscape and Ecology Management Plan."
He added: "We remain of the view that what happened was wholly unlawful."
The campaign won the first judicial review at the High Court last year after challenging Mole Valley District Council’s decision to grant planning permission in 2012.
The Court of Appeal later overturned this ruling and reinstated planning permission - campaigners have asked for leave to appeal its decision at the Supreme Court.
Mr Kilby said: "We are still waiting for the Supreme Court, until they make their decision on whether they are going to consider the request of the campaign.
"There is an injunction on work which is related to 40 Acre Field. However, everything else is moving along successfully."
Forty Acre Field
He said top soil will soon cover the exposed chalk and grass will be sown next year for the golf course, adding: "You will start to see colour other than white appearing over the next few months."
On Thursday Mr Harrold said: "Yesterday is far from the end of the road on this aspect of the case, which focuses particularly on the 40 Acre Field, part of the golf course site which is of far greater ecological value...than was ever said to be the case by the developers before the grant of permission."
He highlighted the fact that the field is adjacent to a Site of Special Scientific Interest and European designated Special Area of Conservation.
Councillor Chris Townsend, leader of the council, said the judge stated it had followed the correct procedures in approving the plan and its decision was not "perverse".
He said: “MVDC is pleased that its decision-making and judgment in relation to the Management Plan has been found to be sound.”
Mr Justice Jay, who was appointed as a High Court judge last year, was counsel to the Leveson inquiry into press standards in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.
Cherkley Court is the former home of press titan Lord Beaverbrook whose guests included Winston Churchill, poet Rudyard Kipling and other eminent figures.
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