An eco-warrior has lost his battle to live on a hilltop allotment and to use a meditation cave he built there.

Hilaire Purbrick will now have to leave the grow-your-own land owned by Brighton and Hove City Council.

Yesterday a judge granted the council a possession order allowing them to evict Mr Purbrick, 45, from the site at Whitehawk Hill, Brighton.

He is also banned indefinitely from returning to the allotments, which have been his home for the past 16 years.

Mr Purbrick has now vowed to take his fight to the European Court of Human Rights after being refused leave to appeal against the ruling at Brighton County Court yesterday

The court was told how Mr Purbrick dug a two metre wide cave on one of the 12 plots he occupied with other commune members who live in sheds and caravans on the site.

They used the cave at the bottom of a 20 foot shaft, as a meditation chamber until the council won an injunction banning them because the cave had no fire exit.

Judge Jonathan Simpkiss said: “The council considers this was a danger to life. They have a responsibility to the public and particularly to children who might have had a serious accident or have been killed if they entered this cave.

“It does not take much imagination to see the public outcry that would have arisen had the council not taken these steps and children had subsequently been trapped or buried in this cave had it collapsed.”

Mr Purbrick said he had helped transform abandoned and derelict allotments on the site into a self-sufficient community and a wildlife haven.

He argued that he was entitled to live there because he had a sub tenancy from a previous allotment holder and had been living there for more than four years.

He claimed the council was in breach of its “moral duty” to ensure that the communal gardens and the wildlife there were allowed to thrive.

Mr Purbrick also claimed that granting a possession order would breach his rights under Articles 8 and 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

But Judge Simpkiss added: “The court is not concerned with the moral aspects of this site although, naturally, anyone has sympathy with a group of people who want to improve an area of land for the benefit of the community.

“But the fact is, that under the terms of the allotments, tenants are obliged to use them only for their own personal use.”

He refused leave to appeal, saying it was a “hopeless cause of trying to resist the inevitable”.

Mr Purbick said as he left the hearing: “I am still living there and intend to continue to do so.

“I will seek legal advice on today's ruling and will take this all the way to the European Court if necessary.”