A COURT case will begin today to decide the future of a wildlife site in Thurrock which campaigners want to stop being turned into a distribution depot.

Wildlife charity Buglife will go to the Court of Appeal to determine if the decision to allow the building of warehouses on West Thurrock Marshes was lawful.

The hearing is the culmination of a three-year campaign by Buglife to save the marshes, home to many rare bumblebees, beetles, spiders and other little animals. Buglife say two other sites in the UK are known to support a greater number of endangered invertebrates.

Back in February Buglife lost its first High Court challenge when Justice Mitting declared that biodiversity protection legislation in the UK was ‘weak’ and judged that the Thurrock Development Corporation – the unelected planning authority – was right to over-ride national planning guidance and allow the marshes to be destroyed.

"We believe that planning bodies should be taking much more care of our endangered species," says Buglife's Matt Shardlow. "These threatened insects have been highlighted as priorities for Government conservation – just like the red squirrel, the otter and the skylark.

"If we want to keep a diverse, healthy and colourful environment we can’t simply protect the bigger, more glamorous plants and animals."