A JUDGE has given the go-ahead for a legal challenge to the decision not to register York's Germany Beck as the site of the 1066 Battle of Fulford.

Archaeologist Charles "Chas" Jones wants English Heritage to be ordered to reconsider its decisions in November 2012 and July 2013 not to add the site to its Battlefield Register.

The case is one of the first to go before a new Planning Court, intended to speed up the legal process over planning and environmental challenges.

Mr Jones claims that his research, culminating in his publication of "Finding Fulford - The search for the first battle of 1066," establishes the site, where Persimmon Homes wants to build 650 homes, as the most likely one for the historic battle.

But English Heritage has argued that, while it was the most likely site, the archaeological and other evidence was "insufficiently conclusive to make this a secure identification."

Mr Justice Lindblom said he was satisfied that the principal ground of the claim was arguable.

"It may well be said that, ultimately, this was a question of judgment for English Heritage. It was. But the question for the court here, however, is whether in exercising that judgment, English Heritage has properly interpreted and applied its own selection guidance for the designation of battlefields. In my view it is arguable that that was not done."