Row over legal proceedings on Ashton Vale town green

A judge has called for compromise over the 42 acre area of land

A row has erupted in a legal case on future use of green space in Bristol with protesters contradicting a council claim proceedings have been dropped.

Bristol City Council said the case had been "discontinued" paving the way for a £90m football stadium to be built.

However, protesters said the judicial review was "not at an end" and said they were involved in a High Court hearing about the matter later.

The High Court has confirmed the case was still "active".

A spokesman for the court said: "It's still going to take place, there's no discontinuation."

'New claimant'

The legal challenge surrounds land in the south of the city that Bristol City Football Club wants to build a 30,000-seater stadium on.

Adrienne Copithorne, the lawyer acting for the protesters, said: "An individual purporting to act on behalf of the claimant served a notice discontinuing the claim on the council last week.

"But in our view the notices are invalid and do not reflect the instructions of the claimant."

She added that the anonymous claimant "doesn't recall signing any kind of document" but added they would now apply for a second person to be a claimant.

"We will be filing an application on behalf of another local resident who is willing in the circumstances to step forward as claimant with the court today," she said.

The row comes after the stadium was originally granted planning permission in 2009, before an independent inquiry said the land should be made a town green.

Then, last year, a Bristol City Council committee said only half the land could be a town green with the other half to be used for the football stadium.

Council deputy leader Simon Cook has now claimed the issue was "finished".

"As I understand it, the court has informed the council that there won't be the possibility of a substitution on this matter and that the applicant has personally withdrawn the judicial review," he said.