A pensioner whose adversaries include the police, council officials and Brighton and Hove Albion has vowed to continue fighting the authorities until he dies.
John Catt, 88, of Shepherds Croft, Brighton, made the pledge after losing his latest legal battle at the High Court.
The well-known protester claimed Brighton and Hove City Council failed to complete all the legal steps when applying to make improvements to the Withdean stadium near his home.
A judge at the High Court has thrown out the case but despite the setback, Mr Catt has vowed to continue questioning “undemocratic” bodies.
Mr Catt said: “I will protest until I die.
“When I was a child I took exception to the way my peers did not ask questions and I became despondent by the lack of challenging.
“What people could not accept was that I recognised and saw straight through people from a very early age.”
Mr Catt is a well known activist who fought against Brighton and Hove Albion’s use of Withdean because he said it would mean more noise and light pollution.
The keen painter won a Court of Appeal challenge to have details about his attendance at various protests removed from a police “extremism” database.
The latest issue revolves around the city council’s application to retain some of the temporary stands at Withdean that were initially installed when Albion called the athletics stadium its home.
A further proposal was submitted for a three-storey extension to the indoor sports centre on the site in Tongdean Lane.
Legal aid
But Mr Catt, who had his costs paid for by the taxpayer under legal aid, challenged the legality.
He argued all three applications, which were approved by the local authority in August 2011 and December 2012, were flawed.
This was because the council’s planning team decided against carrying out an environmental impact assessment on the initial proposal.
However the judge declined to quash the decision, adding the council had met all guidelines in the two later permissions, one of which was near identical to the 2011 one.
'Commons sense'
Christopher Hawtree, the chairman of the council’s planning committee, said: “This is a victory for common sense.”
The local authority said the judge ordered Mr Catt to pay the council’s costs in relation to one of these.
The amount of these costs has not yet been agreed.
But Mr Catt said: “I am protected from costs by legal aid. That’s what they do not like.”
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