Corby BC is to go directly to the Court of Appeal following the trial judge's decision to deny appeal in the ‘birth defects' case. A high court judge ruled in July that the council's reclamation works on a former British Steel site between 1985 and 1999 led to birth defects in local children. The council originally decided to appeal against the judgement on 18 August, but the trial judge this week refused it permission to do so. It will now take its case direct to the Court of Appeal, where the council expects greater success. Simon Aley, head of legal and democratic services at Corby BC, said: ‘We submitted a comprehensive paper to the trial judge outlining some 142 grounds for appeal. However, it is not unusual for a trial judge to stand by his judgement and we had expected his answer to be negative. We will be considering the reasons for his decision when we prepare our submission direct to the Court of Appeal, where we anticipate our prospects of success in obtaining permission to appeal will be greater.'