CAMPAIGNERS who are battling to preserve a green lung near their homes have been dealt a blow.

Southill and Radipole Open Spaces Society has been trying to register an area of land near the Wessex Stadium in Weymouth as a town green, to save it from development, since last year.

Now members of the county council's roads and rights of way committee are being recommended to reject the claim.

A report to the committee, which meets next Thursday, says the bid, which is backed by dozens of people living near to the site, does not meet 'the statutory test for registration of a new green'.

In 1997 the society won the right to have a path included in the Dorset Definitive Map, and claim the land has also been used for 'lawful sports and other pastimes,' for over 20 years - the main criteria for land being made a green.

In their application they say the land has been used for a variety of activities including kite flying, dog walking, blackberry picking, football and cricket.

But the main opponents of the bid - site owners the Trustees of the Aldwickbury Settlement - say that the local use of the site is not 'as of right' because Keep Out notices have been posted there.

Solicitors acting on behalf of the owners claim that the land is mostly used for walking and that none of its witnesses have seen other pastimes taking place.

In a report to Thursday's committee Kathleen Rice, head of legal services at the county council, says: "In isolation the evidence provided in support of the application suggests that the claimed green has been used by a significant number of local inhabitants for lawful sports and pastimes as of right for at least 20 years."

However, she says the foot and mouth crisis in 2001 meant that access to public footpaths including those on the proposed green was prohibited for five months.

"During the crisis it will have been unlawful to access the site. Accordingly, use has not continued down to the date of the application."

She said there was also confusion over use of the site following the 1997 inquiry.

"Seventeen of the witnesses who claim now to have used the site for lawful sports and pastimes gave evidence which led to defined footpaths being established.

"The inquiry inspector would not have confirmed the footpath order if the evidence presented to him had been of a wider wandering over the site.

"The interruption to use caused by the foot and mouth crisis and the conflicting case presented by the applicant in 1997 lead me to recommend that the application be refused," she said.

A society spokesman said: "We're going to fight on but it does feel like we're fighting the council as well as the field owners."

Members of the committee are due to visit the site before Thursday's meeting.