CAMPAIGNERS hoping to stop a further education college being built on recreational land have secured a date for a High Court hearing.
Washington Forum First (WFF) is opposed to plans to build the £7.5m City of Sunderland College on the sports arena at Princess Anne Park, Washington.
It had applied to Sunderland City Council, which owns the land, to have it registered as a town or village green, but this was rejected.
Had the site been declared a village green, it would have been protected from development.
The rejection will now be challenged at the High Court, in London, on October 27.
Protestors hope to overturn the council's decision so the park, near the Galleries shopping centre development, can remain as a play area.
WFF, which is not opposed to a college in Washington, believes the council was wrong to rule that people had been given implied permission to use the land, as opposed to using it as a right.
It also plans to show that the council, as owner of the land, was not an "independent and impartial tribunal" under European Human Rights laws.
A Sunderland City Council spokesman said: "It's for the High Court to reach a conclusion on the matter."
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