Ceredigion County Council are once again attempting to block a Waunfawr field from becoming a Village Green and could end up spending an extra £10,000 to seek the views of a senior barrister to get their way.

Councillors in October last year unanimously rejected advice from a solicitor that the land at Erw Goch Field was being held for educational purposes which prevented it from being given village green status.

An application for the field to become a village green to save the open space for the community was sparked when a joint Wales & West Housing and Ceredigion County Council development of more than 70 homes on the land was submitted.

Those plans remain live and the application prompted Ceredigion County Council, which owns the land, to instruct solicitors to advise on a “statutory incompatibility” defence, saying the land was to be used for educational purposes.

The land was bought by the-then Cardiganshire County Council in June 1965 as a proposed site for a new Ardwyn Grammar School.

The council’s stance was agreed by the solicitor, who found that “even though there are no formal decision of Cardigan County Council that the land that is the subject of the 1965 conveyance was acquired or appropriated for educational purposes, the acquisition of this land for educational purposes is the obvious inference from the available evidence, “it does not matter whether the Application Land was actually used for educational purposes.

Councillors, however, emphatically rejected the solicitor’s argument during the October meeting and unanimously voted against the recommendation.

The council said at the time that it will “go away and seek further advice” with warnings of a lengthy and expensive public inquiry or seeking a second legal opinion the only options left.

Now, a full council meeting to be held on Thursday, 19 September will be asked to vote on two recommendations for the future of the village green application.

Council officers have ruled out options including a public inquiry as it would come with “significant cost and delay.”

Councillors will instead vote on one of two options: outright refusal of the application by adopting the recommendation of the solicitor at the second time of asking, or obtain a second opinion from a more senior barrister.

Such a second opinion would cost £5,000 to £10,000, a report says, with the authority already shelling out thousands of pounds to block the bid.