Bert Hitt and George Hayes, both in their 70s, have been campaigning against Mildenhall Parish Council's move to build a temporary car park for supermarket giant Sainsbury's on the 20-acre site since 2007.

Earlier this year they applied to Suffolk County Council to have the site registered under the Town and Village Green Commons Act, which protects village greens and public spaces that have been used by the community for at least 20 years.

Mr Hayes told the inquiry into the application at Mildenhall's Jubilee Centre: "Although we live in a rural area we have limited open spaces in the town compared with more built up areas in Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds.

"There are no other spaces in the town like this. This is the only large area for residents to carry out leisure and recreational activities."

Mr Hitt, of Raven Close, added: "There can be as many as 50 people on the fields doing different activities on a nice day.

"Even in the morning there is easily seven or eight people walking their dogs on there."

Fellow Raven Close resident Mary Hasty added: "I regularly go on the field with my grandchildren to play games and feed the ducks.

"How anyone could want to desecrate this beautiful landscape I don't know."

Both Mr Hayes and Mr Hitt said that in the years they have lived in the town they have never had to ask for permission or heard anyone ask for permission to use the land, owned by Mildenhall Parish Council.

Richard Grounds, counsel for the parish council, said that between 1988-2008 various bodies, including Mildenhall Cycling Club and the Mildenhall Lions, had had exclusive use of the field for events which had interrupted and excluded residents from taking part in regular leisure activities there.

Brian Sulman, parish council vice-chairman, said when he was chairman of the Mildenhall Lions annual carnival, the organisation had charged people to go on the field.

However, all residents at the inquiry supporting the pensioners' campaign claimed they had never had to pay to get access to the field while an event was taking place and that none of them had seen their regular activities disturbed during such periods.

Mr Hitt added: "People have never been excluded from the field when the carnival or the cycling rally was on.

"In the open spaces booklet exclusive events are referred to as long-stay items, not one- off events which are temporary."

The result of the inquiry, which was due to end on Tuesday, will be announced at a later date.