THE question of whether Studley will ever get a bypass rumbles on after Warwickshire County Council decided to appeal to the High Court over a government decision to revoke route orders.

The county council said the decision was based on "legal opinion that the Government had failed to apply its own policies" when it decided to revoke the orders after a public inquiry in January.

A county council spokesman said: "We consider the Government, which previously put the bypass into the national roads programme, abandoned the scheme when the programme was cut without carrying out the necessary assessment to judge its merits against other schemes that were retained.

"During the public inquiry, the Highways Agency was unable to explain why Studley Bypass was not assessed in the way the Government itself had proposed.

"Given that the bypass would relieve what the inquiry inspector called the "dangerous, damaging and unhealthy conditions" experienced by local residents and road users, the county council will ask the High Court to ensure that the Government accounts properly for a decision of this importance by carrying out a fair and open assessment.

"In the meantime, the making of the Revocation Orders should be abandoned."

Studley Bypass Action Group chairman Jim Clarke welcomed the decision, which he said would keep some hope for a resolution of the chronic traffic problems along the A435 alive.