A DISPUTE over whether the Forest Council was right to take into account the promise of funds for the local community when granting permission for a wind turbine will go before the highest court in the land next week.

The case between the council and Woolaston-based Resilient Energy on the one hand and resident Mr Peter Wright on the other will be heard in the Supreme Court sitting in Cardiff.

The council originally granted Resilient Energy full planning permission for a single turbine at Severndale Farm near Stroat, between Chepstow and Lydney.

But Mr Wright, who lives near the proposed site, argued that the council acted unlawfully in taking into account “community benefit” in the form of a fund.

He took the case to judicial review and the judge agreed with him and quashed the permission.

Resilient and the Forest Council then took the case to the Appeal Court where they again lost.

In its original application for planning permission, Resilient said donations to the community from the turbine’s profits could be as much as £1.1m over its lifetime

The bid to stop the 87m-high turbine started in 2015 when some 100 people backed a ‘Crowd Justice’ campaign.

The case will be heard on Monday and Tuesday (July 22 and 23) before Supreme Court justices Lady Hale, Lord Reed, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Sales and Lord Thomas.