THE latest bid to protect land in Witney and block the Cogges Link Road has failed.

Witney green campaigners took their fight to stop the Cogges Link Road from being built on Witney Meadows, in Farm Mill Lane, to a public inquiry.

However, the independent inspector recommended that Owen Edwards's application for Town Green Status for the land — which would protect it from any development — be rejected on the grounds that the site was not public.

The meadows are owned by Witney Town Council, but campaigners argued that residents historically had been able to access it freely.

Fellow campaigner Wyn Devonald, of Manor Road, Cogges, said: “It was very disappointing, we have now got to decide what we are going to do.

“We thought we would win it because it had gone so well at the inquiry.”

A final decision is due to be made by the Oxfordshire County Council’s planning and regulation committee later this month.

Should the Town Green application be ultimately unsuccessful, it will be possible for Witney Town Council to sell the land to the county council, enabling the construction of the road to go ahead as planned.

The county council recently agreed to exercise its compulsory purchase powers to acquire all the land needed to build the road.

Ian Hudspeth, county council cabinet member for growth and Infrastructure, said: “The Cogges Link Road provides the solution for the large proportion of local traffic movements within Witney, and as such, is the best scheme for the residents of Witney.”

Planning permission for the link road was granted in April 2009.

Final permission for the compulsory purchase order will be required from the Secretary of State.