A row between two Tory councils over the sale of school land will end in the High Court.

District councillors at Chichester last night voted to take legal action against West Sussex County Council for alleged breach of contract.

The two councils are both Tory-run and have headquarters a few hundred yards apart.

The split centres on negotiations over the £6 million sale of the Stockbridge Road site of Chichester High School for Girls to developers for a huge leisure complex.

County Hall plans to use most of the cash to finance a single new girls' campus at the school's other site in nearby Kingsham Road.

But when developers Citygrove announced it was replacing a nightclub included in the leisure scheme with a health and fitness club a row broke out between the two councils.

The district council claims that a health and fitness club will hit income from its own Westgate Leisure Centre which is being upgraded at a cost of £2 million and is less than a quarter of a mile from the school site.

But the county council voted to press on with the sale for a leisure complex which will also include a six-screen cinema, bowling alley, restaurants and a hotel.

Yesterday the district council met in private to discuss legal advice from a QC and after nearly two hours legal action against County Hall was announced.

Coun Jane Chevis said: "This council takes no pleasure in having to take this serious step but it is left with no alternative."

The district council says if income from its health and fitness facilities slumps there will be no money to improve sports facilities in rural areas.

A spokesman for West Sussex County Council said: "We want time to consider the decision."