High Court to decide Weymouth town green's future

The High Court is preparing to sit in Weymouth in a case brought by campaigners trying to save a "green" space in the town.

The area at Markham and Little Francis is classed as Town Green and protected from new development, but the land owner wants to have the status removed.

The firm has won a challenge of the registration but a court case to re-examine it begins on Tuesday.

Betterment Properties, which bought the site in 2004, declined to comment.

The firm has successfully challenged the registration and Dorset County Council was deemed to have applied the wrong Act of Parliament when it added the land to the register of town greens in 2000.

The society for the protection of Markham and Little Francis has been fundraising to have the application for registration re-examined applying the appropriate Act of Parliament.

Councillor and chair of the society Gill Taylor said everybody had "pulled together" to save the site, widely known as Curtis Fields.

She said: "I never thought it would get to the High Court case - I never thought we would get this far.

"I never thought we would raise the money but the community support has been absolutely phenomenal."