CAMPAIGNERS have been celebrating their first small victory in the four-year struggle against park-and-ride in Winchester.

A High Court judge in London yesterday ruled in favour of a legal challenge by campaigner Elspeth Murray over the issue of compensation for the loss of open space at Bar End.

The decision will delay progress on the park-and-ride extension by months. But it does not affect the planning permission granted by the government in 1998.

Mr Justice Ouseley overturned Hampshire County Council's decision to offer Magdalen Hill as compensation for the removal of public open space on the former A33 bypass.

The council wants to put 428 parking spaces there but has been prevented by a dogged four-year campaign.

The judge, describing the case as "very unusual", upheld the challenge by Elspeth Murray of Hubert Road, St Cross.

He ordered that the council must reconsider what land should be offered as compensation. He said it had failed to adequately consider the merits of four other sites.

It means the county council must embark on another exercise including a full public consultation that could take up to six months.

The county council said it was taking legal advice about an appeal.

County councillor Keith Estlin, executive member for the environment, said: "I'm very disappointed that the High Court has upheld this judicial review on one aspect of

this much-needed scheme for which permission was granted by the government four years ago.

"The case for and against this development has been fully debated in public over the years. The county council remains committed to the park-and-ride principle.

"Only by removing unnecessary traffic from our cities will the quality of life and the environment be improved. We will continue to seek ways to implement the park-and-ride site as quickly as possible," he said.

Ms Murray argued that Magdalen Hill was unsuitable as compensation, being less accessible to most Winchester people and ecologically poorer. Although only seven years old the Bar End site has some 200 species of flora and fauna.

She was unavailable for comment but the campaign leader Keith Story was delighted by the result.

Mr Story, chairman of the Winchester Meadows Conservation Alliance, said: "This totally stops the scheme for the time being.

"We are very pleased with the decision. It is a victory for common sense."