Bristol City's stadium could be stopped by town green move
If their application succeeds, it could scupper plans for the new 30,000-seat stadium.
Club chief executive Colin Sexstone described the move as "vexatious" and a stalling device to try to stop the £100 million stadium complex going ahead.
It has emerged the day after councillors gave their backing for Bristol City FC to build a new home on a greenbelt site near the Long Ashton park-and-ride site.
Councillors on the development control (south and east) committee decided to support the scheme after a meeting in the council chamber that lasted nearly four-and-a-half hours.
They did, however, refuse to support building 116 homes on the Southlands site, a patch of greenbelt land that lies south of the proposed stadium.
Nearly 40 residents in Ashton Vale have signed up to the town green application, which covers 42 acres – the whole site except for the Moorelands former allotments, where there is a proposal to build 137 homes.
One of the residents, retired civil servant Linda Stone, 62, of Ashton Drive, said: "People who live in the area have been using these fields for generations. They are very important to us because they are the only open space we have.
"They provide somewhere for children to play and for community activities such as barbecues and street parties. There is also a lot of wildlife there which we think it is important to protect."
She said the residents were not aiming to get the stadium plan scrapped.
She said: "We need this to protect the land. They are not just going for a stadium but everything else as well, so we need to do this."
The application will not be fought by the club but the landowners, the JT Group and Vence LLP.
They are already seeking specialist legal advice and believe they can mount a strong challenge.
Town status cannot be awarded unless it can be shown the site has been in community use for at least 20 years, yet the proposed stadium sits on a former landfill site that is understood to have been in use until 1991.
They also hope to deal with the issue within a time frame that does not hinder progress of the new stadium or the World Cup bid.
Council spokesman James Easey said the usual timescale for dealing with town green status applications was about six months.
The process usually involves the council appointing an independent inspector to gather evidence and put forward a recommendation to the council's legal team.
They use this to formulate a recommendation to the council's public rights of way and greens committee, who discuss the issue and make a decision.
Mr Easey said: "As with planning applications, there is a well laid out legal process that the council must follow in considering such applications on their merits, so we absolutely cannot speculate at this time on the outcome of that process. To be clear – that outcome will not be influenced by the council's enthusiasm for the World Cup bid."
He said the application did represent "a further complexity" to the World Cup bid and would therefore be reported to a cabinet meeting later this month.
Ian Cawley, project manager and spokesman for the landowners, said: "We are aware of the application for town green status and will be making a full response in due course."
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