PORTLAND councillor Carralyn Parkes said she is "glad" that she took on Dorset Council and the Home Office in two legal challenges, despite having lost both cases.

Mrs Parkes, a Portland town councillor for Underhill and the former Mayor of Portland, brought a legal case, acting in a personal capacity, against Dorset Council at the High Court, arguing that the authority could have enforced planning authority over the Bibby Stockholm asylum seeker barge at Portland Port.

The claim was dismissed, as the judgement found that neither the marine licensing regime nor the terrestrial planning regime applies to the barge.

Mrs Parkes also lost an earlier court case which was brought against the Home Office.

READ MORE: Portland mayor loses legal challenge against barge

The Portland councillor said that despite losing, she was "pleased" that the High Court ruling confirmed that some aspects of the Bibby Stockholm could come under the planning jurisdiction of Dorset Council.

READ MORE: Portland barge: Mayor to take on Dorset Council in court

Mrs Parkes says in the judgement it was confirmed that the council does have the power to exercise planning authority over the onshore aspects of the Bibby Stockholm operation, including the quayside security, embarkment, smoking and transportation areas.

Mrs Parkes and her legal team are considering an appeal against the High Court ruling.

She said: "Dorset Council has maintained that it has no planning jurisdiction over the Bibby Stockholm.

READ MORE: Dorset Council has 'no planning power' over Portland barge

"Whilst that is true, some of the parts that make the Bibby Stockholm work is part of their remit.

"They said in court that they are considering planning enforcement on February 28, that is the first time they have admitted having any jurisdiction over the barge.

"Dorset Council right now could apply planning enforcement on the area on land and they could stop the barge right now."

In his judgment, Mr Justice Holgate dismissed Ms Parkes’ bid, ruling that the seabed above which the Bibby Stockholm is moored could not be viewed as “land” over which the council had planning control.

He said: “Neither the area of the sea bed above which the Bibby Stockholm is moored, nor Portland inner harbour, nor the ‘inner waters’ in Weymouth bay extending to the baselines of the territorial sea, form part of the area of Dorset Council.”

He continued: “Indeed, if land were to be treated as including the sea bed, there would be no logical stopping place before the limits of this country’s territorial sovereignty are reached.

“That approach would be inconsistent with the legislature’s intention to enact a system of development control in relation to the land, not the sea.

“It is logical to include the foreshore within the area referred to as “land” because it is not always covered by the sea.”

Lawyers for the council said that “the seabed over which the Bibby Stockholm floats is not ‘land’”, adding that Ms Parkes’s barristers had failed to show that Portland Harbour comes within the boundaries of Dorset.

Mrs Parkes added: "I am pleased that I did it and I made it difficult for the Government to role out more barges across the country.

"I am glad that I did it.

"I couldn't have slept at night if I had not done anything to try and stop it.

"It is barbaric to house human beings in that way.

"The fact that the Home Office can use their powers to circumvent local authorities is abhorrent."