WINCHESTER campaigners have launched a battle to prevent a former military base becoming a no-go area.

Some 80 people gathered on Whiteshute Ridge near Bushfield Camp on Saturday to protest at the closure of countryside many have freely walked for decades.

The landowners, the Church Commissioners, and a tenant farmer have put up barbed wire fences and "keep out'' signs to deter access. The farmer wants to graze cattle on the chalk downland. Feelings are beginning to run high on both sides. The fence has been cut several times.

Paul Roberts, of St Cross Road, said: "It's terrible. Three weeks ago we walked through a gap in the fence. I was challenged by a farmer. He said he would shoot dogs and people moving in the area. We reported it to the police.''

People have vowed to trespass to maintain the rights that they say they enjoy under common law.

Irene Ashby, of Lower Stanmore Lane, said: "I have walked here since 1975. I am going to trespass and do it every day. When it was fenced off I felt personal pain."

Marjorie Huntley, of Grange Road, St Cross, said: "The way this closure has been done is brutal. But I will carry on walking here."

John Leonard, the co-ordinator of Bushfield ROW (Rights of Way) has condemned criminal damage and hopes to challenge the closure through the county council.

He is urging people to support an application for the right of way through the 32-acre site.

Mr Leonard told the open air meeting. "It is fantastic the numbers of you that have turned out. We want to show our concern by these numbers and by signing a letter to MP Mark Oaten.

"Many of us have been walking in this area for more than 20 years without any obstruction. That gives us certain rights of access."

Unfortunately for the campaigners, the county council may take several years to consider their application supported by some 50 letters. It will probably be resolved by a contested public inquiry.

County councillor, Anne Bailey, said: "I want to increase access to the countryside not close it down. I'm so pleased people realise they have a jewel here."

A spokesman for Cluttons, the agents for the landowner, said the fencing was to keep cattle in and not people out. Grazing cattle would improve the land's ecology.

But the protesters say there is no reason why cows and people cannot co-exist as on the nearby St Cross water meadows.

Mr Leonard, of Hubert Road, St Cross, said he feared there were other reasons for the closure. He said: "We are concerned there may be a hidden agenda for housing in the area. There is probably also a hidden agenda by landowners in the light of the right to roam legislation. They believe that if they put up fences any rights that might have been gained will be diminished and removed."