CAMPAIGNERS fighting plans for a tree-top assault course at West End have vowed to continue their battle for a judicial review into the decision.

Eastleigh Borough Council has given highwire specialists, Go Ape, planning permission for the course in Itchen Valley Country Park and the firm says it aims to start installing it this autumn.

Owner of Lower Itchen Fisheries, Lyndsey Farmiloe, is planning to meet with her solicitor this week to discuss the possibility of putting the decision before a judge.

Mrs Farmiloe’s family has owned the fishing business on the Itchen’s famous chalk streams for more than 50 years.

She said: “ I still maintain that due consideration was not given to the fishery and the conservation orders. I’m certainly not going to give it up now. I’ve come too far but it will ultimately be up to the barristers.”

Councillors voted in December to approve the plan with conditions.

Margaret Raff, from Friends of the Itchen Valley Country Park, said she believed the way the council had reached the decision was “undemocratic”.

“We’re unhappy with the way they arrived at the decision, the way they have not taken notice of other points of view and the fact that the council were clearly in support of the project from the start. They’re using public money and local authority time to support the initiative.”

Ben Davies, business development manager for Go Ape, said: “The course will create jobs and we will work closely with the borough council’s countryside service to help ensure that Itchen Valley Country Park continues to be a beautiful and popular destination.”