RESIDENTS shed tears of jubilation and relief yesterday as Poole Town FC’s plans to build a new ground on Branksome Rec were booted into touch for good.

The council’s planning committee unanimously backed officers’ conclusions that the football club’s proposals impacted too greatly on open space without providing ample community benefits.

Huge cheers greeted the decision and opponents of the scheme embraced each other as the 20-month Battle for Branksome Rec reached its end.

“It’s wonderful news – fantastic,” said an elated Jacqui Wilson, chair of the Branksome Rec Action Group, which has led the protesters’ charge throughout.

“It’s been very doubtful at times but we always thought we might do it.”

Cllr Phil Eades, ward member for Branksome West, said the final verdict showed how strongly residents felt about losing their open space.

“There isn’t enough of it and we couldn’t afford to lose what we do have,” he added.

Poole Town representatives were left stunned by the decision.

In June, the council – as landowner of the rec – voted to back the club’s scheme and subsequent planning permission might have seemed a formality.

“I feel very disappointed the community facilities we were going to provide are now not going to materialise,” said Poole Town vice-chairman Chris Reeves.

“A significant legacy for generations to come has been lost.”

Mr Reeves said an appeal against the refusal was unlikely and the club would now turn its attention to alternative sites.

Ultimately, the fact the rec provides the only green lung in the densely populated Branksome area – which has a population greater than the whole of Wimborne – proved the pivotal factor.

Planning officers did not consider the community elements of the £1 million plans to be significant enough to outweigh the loss of open space.

Opponents of the scheme who spoke at yesterday’s meeting, including the Campaign for Planning Sanity and the Campaign to Protect Rural England, reiterated the rec should not be given over to a private enterprise.

They argued the ground would have provided an “austere eyesore” and the extra traffic would cause “total congestion”.

Mr Reeves told the meeting the council’s own environment overview and scrutiny panel and leisure services department had supported the club over the community rewards of the project.

The plans proved divisive from the minute they were announced in March last year. Large petitions were presented to the council both for and against the redevelopment, and the planning application received more than 500 responses.