CAMPAIGNERS fighting to preserve a prized public open space will have an appeal heard in the European Courts.

A residents' group has staged a long-running fight against the development of a new campus for the City of Sunderland College, earmarked for Princess Anne Park, alongside Washington's town centre Galleries shopping complex.

But in canvassing support, members of the Washington First Forum (WFF) group were evicted from the Galleries by the privately-owned centre's security staff.

Forum members claimed the expulsion denied them their legal right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of assembly and association, contravening articles ten and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

WFF representatives Pam Beresford and Eileen Appleby took their claim to the European Court of Justice, in Strasbourg, seeking a ruling on the issue.

The court has now decided that the case is admissible in law and should be the subject of a full inquiry by judges.

In reaching the ruling, it considered legal precedents from previous jurisdictions, including cases from North America, relating to exclusion from shopping centres.

WFF chairman Robert Duggan said the centre refused members access to lobby support for its campaign on the basis that political activity is not permitted.

But he said this effectively meant members were excluded from expressing their views in their local town centre.

"We know we have the overwhelming support of the people of Washington, but our campaign has been undermined by us being excluded from our town centre."

The fight to prevent the college development, meanwhile, is to go to the House of Lords.

The WFF is appealing against Sunderland City Council's refusal to register the sports area of the park as a town or village green.

The House of Lords recently agreed to hear the appeal