Campaigners were celebrating today after Oxfordshire County Council backed a planning inspector’s recommendation that Warneford Meadow in Headington, Oxford, should be granted Town Green status.

In May, a public inquiry was held into whether the 18-acre site should be declared a Town Green.

Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust owns the land and wanted to dispose of it for development.

But Town Green status would legally prohibit any further development on the site, and councillors sitting on the planning and regulation committee backed the decision of the planning inspector in October.

Owen Morton, a spokesman for the county council, confirmed councillors agreed with the planning inspector’s recommendation.

The council is the registration authority for Town Greens in Oxfordshire and has to give its approval on planning grounds before Town Green status can be granted.

Mother-of-two Sietske Boeles, 55, of Southfield Road, said the trust might now appeal the decision and request a judicial review in the High Court.

She added: “We are delighted the councillors have backed the planning inspector’s decision.

“The trust now has three months to decide whether or not to appeal.

“Residents will be staging a celebration on the meadow on the evening of May 1, when we will remind people that Warneford Meadow was bought by Warneford Hospital in 1920 to protect it from development, and to provide an open-air environment for its mental-health patients.

“It is still used today by patients suffering dementia and other conditions.”

At the inquiry, campaigners gave evidence to show residents had used the meadow for past-times like football, or walking their dog, for at least 20 years .

They raised almost £40,000 to pay for the cost of being legally represented at the inquiry.

Christian Mayr, a spokesman for Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We have only just heard the news and will be reporting this to our board of directors, who meet at the end of the month.

“The board will then decide what, if any, actions may be taken.”

Residents in North Oxford won a previous battle to get the Trap Grounds, land near Port Meadow in Jericho, registered as a Town Green.