The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal to overturn the planning decision on Twickenham station, but has criticised Richmond Council.

Lord Justice Richards gave the verdict this morning at the Royal Courts of Justice.

The court was faced with the argument that a report on the station development from an advisory panel set up by council leader Lord True was ignored.

The Twickenham Advisory Panel believed its role was to comment on the regeneration of Twickenham, but the council did not want the station development included in that.

Twickenham Residents' Action Group (Trag), which brought the case against the council - headed by resident John Watson - said the panel's Tap report was ignored.

In a report from the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Richards said: "It will be apparent that I am deeply unimpressed by the way the council handled the Tap report.

"It was clear that the Tap report related to the planning committee's consideration of the application, and was being distributed to officers for that purpose."

Lord True said today: “I welcome the court’s decision today and I hope that we can finally lay this matter to rest and move forward with creating a station that is fit for purpose.

“Twickenham station is a disgrace and, whilst this whole process has resulted in massive delays to the developers’ schedule, I now hope that they can make enough progress to be able to deliver a 21st century station in time for the Rugby World Cup in 2015 when the eyes of the world will be on our town.

“This council and other key stakeholders are investing millions of pounds into improving Twickenham after a generation of neglect. It is time to proceed.”

Following the decision Mr Watson said he was very disappointed but would consider taking the case to the Supreme Court.

He also added that the council should be called to account for how it handled the situation, as reflected in Lord Justice Richards' comments.

He said: "We think the council has really got to answer a lot of questions on how they handled this."

The full decision can be found at bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2013/513.html.