A town council battling to get a waterside beauty spot classed as a village green will mount a DIY defence at an inquiry to decide the long-running saga - and save itself up to �60,000.

A town council battling to get a waterside beauty spot classed as a village green will mount a DIY defence at an inquiry to decide the long-running saga - and save itself up to �60,000.

Aylsham Town Council took up the cudgels on behalf of residents concerned a bit of riverbank at Mill Row would be lost to public use when it was fenced off by developers.

The saga, stretching back to 2004, will come to a head with an inspector appointed by Norfolk County Council holds an inquiry to determine its fate.

But councillors were facing a legal bill of �30,000, doubled if a barrister was used, to fight the case.

Some have voiced concerns on spending such a large sum of money to battle for a small piece of land used by only a few townsfolk.

So they have backed chairman Liz Jones' idea of letting town clerk Mo Anderson-Dungar state the town's case instead.

'I would not feel comfortable with spending �60,000, but I've never been bullied and I'm not going to start now,' she told members.

Developers DJLM said they fenced off the site - which had always been owned by the mill and never had public access - in 2004 for safety reasons and to stop vandalism during work, but no work has been carried out.

But campaigning residents found evidence from more than 70 people saying the area had been in public use over the past 20 years.

After the council meeting Mrs Anderson-Dungar said there was no date yet fixed for the non-statutory public inquiry hearing.