A LEADING campaigner against a £165 million scheme to transform Winchester city centre has been given a second chance to challenge it in the courts.

City councillor Kim Gottlieb’s appeal for a judicial review of the council’s decision to allow Henderson to propose changes to the Silver Hill project will be reconsidered by the High Court.

The legal offensive, part of Cllr Gottlieb’s Winchester Deserves Better campaign, was initially thrown out this month (October).

Winchester City Council will spend up to £100,000 defending its decision to allow the developer, Henderson, to propose dropping a bus station and 100 council houses from the scheme.

Chief operating officer Stephen Whetnall told cabinet: “We have received papers that the matter will be escalated to a full hearing. That provision is needed – not all of the expenditure has occurred yet. The next stage should be dealt with in a relatively short period of time but would involve significant expenditure.”

The High Court judge previously ordered Cllr Gottlieb to pay £7,500 towards the council’s legal costs.