COUNCILLORS are being asked to rubber stamp a £15 million road for a second time just months after High Court judges ruled the authority were mistaken to green light it in the first place.

Hastings Borough Council’s planning committee are being advised to grant permission for the Queensway Gateway at a meeting on Tuesday despite hundreds of local objections.

The road project stalled this summer following a successful legal challenge by a resident over the original decision to grant permission ten months ago.

Campaigners have criticised council officers' advice to grant permission to the project despite admitting it would breach four of the authority’s own policies.

High Court judges ruled in the summer that the previous planning recommendations failed to draw sufficient attention that the proposal would contravene pollution limits and parts of the Hastings Local Plan.

The road, proposed by not-for-profit economic development company SeaChange Sussex, would link between the A21 and B2092 and crosses a local wildlife site and a preserved woodland.

Council officers said the development would help by Hastings and Rother councils meet housing and employment targets while improving “connectivity” and reducing congestion.

The new report has included additional information on traffic modelling, air quality and ecology.

The remodelled traffic reports now suggest that air quality would not exceed legal limits although it would be in breach of four council policies on ecology, local wildlife and air quality.

Almost 200 objections have been tabled against the latest proposal along with opposition from The Friends of Speckled Wood who have raised complaints with the Information Commissioner and Local Government Ombudsman over council refusals to release legal documents to them.

Emily Johns, Combe Haven Defenders spokeswoman said: "It is staggering that the planning consultant can admit that the Queensway Gateway road would breach four separate council policies, yet recommend that the planning committee grant permission anyway.

"If they do so, they will be ignoring the law on air pollution, as well as making a mockery of local democracy.

"What is the point of having policies if the council can decide to ignore them when they don't suit?".

The planning committee will make a decision on the proposals at 6pm on Tuesday at the White Rock Theatre in Hastings.