Campaigners say they have won the battle but the war is still to be fought after the government made a u-turn on its decision to allow a faith school to stay in a south Bucks village.

Residents and councillors have been involved in a two-year fight against the decision to base the Khalsa Secondary Academy in Stoke Poges and this week it was revealed secretary of state, Eric Pickles, has agreed not to take their challenge to the high court.

Going against a planning inspector’s recommendations, Mr Pickles gave the school the green light to stay in the area but in a letter to the legal team of the Stoke Poges Parish Council they have agreed to take another look at the decision.

Vice chairman of the parish council, Saera Carter, said: “They conceded judgement that had we gone to the high court the judge would quash their argument.

“Had this been the case they would have been able to redetermine the case, basically allowing Eric Pickles a second bite of the cherry.

“However, having pulled out of this it means we go straight to the redetermination – it is a significant victory for all the campaigners and it is a good battle to win, although there is still more to come.”

A number of concerns were originally raised when the school applied to be permanently sited in Hollybush Hill, with noise issues highlighted as a significant factor in the inspector’s recommendation to reject the proposal.

Ms Carter said: “The children get dropped off about 7.15am to 7.30am and from that time there is a lot of noise for residents to put up with.

“There are factors which cannot just be ignored. We are not too sure where we go from here we just need to wait and see.”

Both the parish council and South Bucks District Council were preparing to fight the decision in the high court next week, but it is now in the hands of their legal teams.

Principal of the school, Rose Codling, said on the school website: “We are understandably frustrated with the news regarding these further planning complications and were expecting a quicker resolution. However, we are confident that this will be resolved in the due course.”

The school are still looking to a bright future claiming they are already heavily oversubscribed for year seven entry in September 2015.

Ms Carter added: “The number of pupils from both Stoke Poges, and South Bucks in general, is rising steadily and we will have around twenty three percent of pupils who are non-Sikh.”