Three months after a massive residential development was controversially given the green light by Poole Council, the proposal is still up in the air.

Legal challenges surround Talbot Village Trust’s proposal for 450 student units and 378 new homes on farmland off Wallisdown Road.

A call-in of the decision is being sought and Bournemouth council is taking counsel’s advice on mounting a judicial review.

Bournemouth council, Natural England and Conor Burns, MP for Bournemouth West, have all requested Secretary of State Eric Pickles to call in the application and several others, including Dorset Wildlife Trust and the RSPB, have made representations.

The Government Office for the South West (GOSW) has now issued an Article 14 holding direction to Borough of Poole, forbidding them from issuing planning consent while they consider the call-in requests, which could lead to a public inquiry.

“If this plan goes through it’s a coach and horses through all our other areas,” said Cllr Ron Whittaker, who represents Throop and Muscliff on Bournemouth Borough Council and sought an update on the situation at full council.

“It’s going to have massive implications for not just Bournemouth and Poole but many towns throughout the country.”

He added: “It’s Bourne-mouth that suffers with the gridlock on Wallisdown Road and other residential roads, not Poole Borough Council.”

Objectors concerns range from traffic and the impact on the local environment to damage to heathland and concerns for wildlife. Nature conservationists say the no-build zone within 400 metres of internationally protected heathland is sacrosanct.

Richard Genge, planning and regeneration manager at Poole, said the Secretary of State wanted more time to consider whether the issue required his involvement and was of national interest.

Talbot Village Trust, which is proposing a £1.2m investment in the heath, returning 26 acres of farmland to heath and protecting it with a cat-proof fence, said this was all part of the normal planning process.

“But we hope that the coalition government’s widely known and publicly stated commitment to local level decision-making is applied in this case,” said trustee James Gibson Fleming.

“The extensive analysis of the application and the council’s thorough planning process certainly indicates that the final approval should be left to Poole council,” he added.