PROTESTERS fighting to stop a factory being built in a Hampshire village are taking their case to the High Court.

Chilworth Residents' Committee has applied for a judicial review after a controversial application for Chilworth Science Park was given the green light by planners.

The action comes after the group appealed to people in Chilworth to pledge donations to pay for a barrister to put its case to a judge.

Chilworth residents were outraged when Test Valley Borough Council overruled one of its own committees by voting in favour of the plans by Fibercore for the Southampton University-owned park.

The move in April came just two weeks after a different committee voted to refuse the application.

Residents' committee chairman Alison Finlay said: "We have made an application for a judicial review and the papers are with a lawyer in London to be presented to a judge for him to consider the merits of the case. It's a question of whether he thinks there's a case to be answered.

"We have taken this course on the advice of a solicitor and barrister. We have put forward eight grounds for the challenge, one of which is the issue of manufacturing taking place at the science park."

She declined to say how much had been pledged towards legal costs by residents.

She added: "We are planning some fundraising events soon, possibly including an auction of promises, an antiques roadshow, a children's toy swap and a murder mystery evening."

Council planning experts ruled that the reasons given for refusal by the southern area planning committee in March - which were backed by a majority of 11 to five - would be inadmissible if it went to appeal.

At the planning control committee meeting on April 3 - at which five councillors were absent - five of the eight members present voted in favour of the application by the specialist optical fibre developer and manufacturer.

Protesters claim Fibercore's application for a detached building for production, research and development, would be contrary to the park's current use as a centre for hi-tech research and development only.

Fibercore managing director Chris Emslie declined to comment.