The renewed hope has arrived following intervention by the Planning Inspectorate, the BBC reports. 

Stubley is hoping to build Long Acre Wildlife Hospital on 27 acres of land at Kirtling, near Newmarket, to support vulnerable animals from Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Norfolk.

Planning officers at East Cambridgeshire District Council said the project had “insufficient justification”, and rejected the plans in July last year and once more in January this year, prompting an appeal to the government’s Planning Inspectorate.

The inspectorate has appointed a planner to consider the application.

Stubley said: “Now we will all have a chance to speak and thrash it out around the table - they can ask questions and I can ask questions and not be tied down to a five-minute answer.”

Planners at the council recommended that the application be refused due to worries concerning traffic prompted by rural development.

Documents detail that planning officers felt there was “insufficient justification” for the wildlife hospital to be built on land off Water Lane, Long Acre, in Kirtling.

The officers were also concerned the project would cause “significant harm” to the character and appearance of the area and lead to “noise and disturbance” for nearby residents.

Stubley established the hedgehog hospital at her home 18 years ago in Ousden. She went on to care for as many as 1,000 hedgehogs each year.

Increasing demand for services from the hospital and the absence of space at her home sparked the idea for the proposed facility. 

On 20th October, a meeting between Stubley and her team, councillors, the government inspector and members of the public will go ahead. 

The BBC reported that East Cambridgeshire District Council had been contacted for comment.