A GROUP fighting to protect a piece of open space in Weymouth is edging nearer to its fundraising target.

The Society for the Protection of Markham and Little Francis, which is made up of a group of concerned residents, has to raise between £40,000 and £50,000 to pay lawyers to fight their case at a court hearing.

Committee chairman Gill Taylor said £30,000 had now been pledged.

The fundraising campaign was launched in March and the latest donations have come from the Open Spaces Society, Wyke Regis Protection Society and individuals who asked not to be named.

The money raised by the society will be used to fund a legal battle to protect the area and keep it as an open space.

The Open Spaces Society, which has donated £5,000 to the cause, was among the groups which lent its support when the 42 acres of land between Lanehouse and Wyke was registered as a town green in 2001.

But the town green status has since been challenged by the landowner, developer Betterment Properties.

A High Court judge will make a final decision at a hearing later this year.

Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, said: "This is an important test case.

"If the society loses not only will this lovely green space be lost but it will give a new opportunity to land-grabbers to seize land which we all believed was safe."

She said the Open Spaces Society - Britain's oldest national conservation body - would be pleased to offer support after the court case is completed.

Gill Taylor said: "We are seeking charitable status as a group as this would make fundraising more efficient.

"If that happens we will only need to raise about £10,000.

"We think the High Court will sit towards the end of the year but for us it's a case of the longer they delay the better because it gives us more time."

She said the campaign would be boosted by the sale of a painting of the fields by local artist Steve Bissell who donated it to the group.