Haringey Council has put an end to a 28-year battle to preserve one of north London's remaining playing fields and will now put the land up for sale.

The council refused to give Community Action Sport (CAS) approval for their plan to redevelop the Bull Lane Playing Fields and Pasteur Gardens.

It means the organisation will lose £750,000 of funding the Marathon Trust pledged to them – but only once the council guaranteed the scheme.

Despite promises from Haringey Council leader Claire Kober, the council said it could not approve their bid unless it knew the voluntary group had secured at least £2.5million.

It has added a clause in the deal that if that amount of money was not invested it would have the right to reclaim the land over the next five years.

Malcolm Springthorpe, who has led the drawn-out fight, said it was clear the council preferred to sell off the green space in order to raise money than see it preserved for future generations.

He said: "We are in such an awkward position. We want to continue to work with the council and don't want to start mouthing off. The bottom line is if the council was committed to saving Bull Lane they would not have put in this clause.

"The money they make from selling the land will be spent in a year, but the playing fields would be gone forever. We've been fighting this since the Eighties, so we're going to see it to the end. There's even more fire in people's bellies."

St Thomas More School, in Wood Green, had hoped the land would become their new playing field as the sports specialist school has no such facility.

In a cabinet report from Haringey Council's director of resources, it said: "The council has a longstanding objective of disposing of both of these sites which lie outside the borough and has historically explored schemes which as well as securing improved sport and leisure facilities, particularly on Bull Lane, would also generate a capital receipt for the Council.

"During this time the future of the sites has remained uncertain and their potential for providing better facilities has not been realised."

It said the land would now be marketed to a "full range of potential purchasers" which would include property developers.

If the land is sold to be used as a sports facility it is valued much lower than if it is being marketed for housing.