Campaigners will have their day in court as they fight the building of a high-rise tower in Brighton Marina.

The Brighton Marina Action Group will have a hearing before judges early in the New Year as they seek to put a halt on a proposed £250 million development of the site.

The campaign group says the latest development in the long-running campaign is a “significant victory” but Marina developers say the protest group’s actions will have no impact on the ongoing work at the seafront site.

Work on the Brunswick Developments led expansion of the marina which includes more than 850 flats and almost 2,000sqm of shops and leisure space has been gathering pace in recent weeks.

Campaigners say they are not sure whether their opposition can reverse work already completed but they are hopeful of preventing further towers from being constructed including a 40-storey development proposed as part of a later stage of the development which would be the tallest building in the county.

The group of about 80 residents living in and around the marina have raised £45,000 already to fund the legal action.

The team have also unearthed documents from records at The Houses of Parliament and National Archive to support their legal challenge.

Campaign group coordinator Robert Powell said: “Brighton Marina was not intended to be a high-rise, high-density housing estate.

“It does not have the required amenities such as schools and play areas for children and the car parking provision is inadequate, “The Act of Parliament which authorised the building of the Marina had conditions imposed on future planning not to permit the very developments, which they have currently permitted or are encouraging.”

Mr Powell said he hoped the legal challenge would result in a “world-class regeneration” of Brighton Marina that was within the limits written into the Brighton Marina Act and which respected the heritage of its neighbouring streets.

Andrew Goodall, of Brunswick Developments, said: “This will have no impact on what is going on at the marina.

“They had lost their original claim for a judicial review and a High Court judge decided against their claim, all they have won is the right to go to the Court of Appeal.”

Mr Goodall added that the current development was going “extremely well” and that the current work was “on program and on budget” for its completion date of mid-2016.