Sarah Carter, who led the Save Our Scampton campaign, said: “People say ‘we’ve won’, but we’ve only won the battle, not the war. We are back where we started. “Now it’s a waiting game.”

In October, council leaders claimed there was no timetable for the sale of the site, which is still owned by the Home Office.

Mrs Carter, who has spent the last 18 months fighting the plans, said: “Until the council gets the land this is not over.

“That regeneration project would change the lives of many people in the area, and it has been a long time coming.”