Falmer Parish Council has declared it has the £30,000 required to pay for its share of the High Court stadium challenge.

Questions were asked when a copy of the council's last accounts revealed its Falmer appeal had only raised £15,060 by the beginning of May.

The council is committed to stumping up nearly half of the estimated £65,000 cost of the legal action.

Lewes District Council has committed £25,000, while the Sussex Downs Society and the South Downs Joint Committee ave pledged £5,000 each for the joint challenge.

Falmer parish councillor Simon Barnes said yesterday any shortfall in its appeal fund would be topped up with council tax payers' money.

He said: "We have the money and we are ready to go."

On top of its stadium fund, the council has about £19,000 in the bank. It collected £20,000 from tax payers in the village last year and spent more than half that sum - £12,314 - on stadium expenses.

The cost of fighting the 22,000-seat Brighton and Hove Albion stadium plan has cost the council about £36,000 since 2003, not including expenses for the forthcoming High Court challenge.

Mr Barnes is confident of winning the judicial review and that the Government will be forced to reimburse its legal costs.

The £65,000 figure has been worked out by Lewes District Council based on an estimated two-day court hearing.

It said that would cover its own legal fees plus those of the Government if the council loses the appeal.

But Albion bosses have warned the figure could run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Chief executive Martin Perry said the court hearing could last much longer than two days and warned that the club will claim its own legal costs from the councils if the appeal fails.

He said: "Both Lewes District and Falmer Parish Council are taking a serious punt with taxpayers' money which they are likely to lose."