Campaigners are outraged after their bid to have a historic mansion identified as a community asset was rejected.

Councillor Jason Charalambous, the Friends of Trent Park group and a church all clubbed together to kick off the ‘Save Trent Park’ campaign more than a month ago.

Having the Grade II listed Trent Park mansion listed as a community asset would have given community groups the right to buy the building if it was to be sold.

The house and surrounding buildings in Snakes Lane, Cockfosters, were sold by Middlesex University in August 2013 to Malaysia’s Allianze University College of Medical Sciences for £30.9 million.

However, plans to build a new university on the site took a turn for the worse as the university went into liquidation last May – leaving the site almost totally abandoned but for two security guards hired by the company.

Campaigners gathered thousands of signatures on a petition, but Enfield Borough Council rejected the application a month after full council agreed to set up a working group to help protect the site’s future.

In the final hours before the deadline given for its response to the application, the local authority set out its reasons.

In the statement of little over 550 words, it said it was not clear what use for the building the application was seeking to protect.

It went on: “It appears that what the applicant is concerned with is the heritage value and access to the assets and not the actual (or in recent past) use per se, which furthers the social wellbeing of the community.”

Fuming at the verdict, Cllr Charalambous said: “The Labour-run council and those responsible for this decision should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

“The 4,000 people who signed the petition have been ignored, and this is a blatant insult to the military and cultural heritage not only of Enfield but Britain at large.

“The council left it to less than an hour before the eight-week statutory deadline expired to declare their conclusion. This adds insult to injury because in my view their decision was a foregone conclusion with a view from the outset to reject it.”

Cllr Charalambous said he will be exploring all options including judicial review and labelled the explanation for rejection “inadequate.”

Tony Hillman, chairman of the TCP conservation committee, said: “It is rarely in my professional life have I seen such a flimsy justification for a decision. There is no proper evidence of what criteria have not been met and why, in fact no detailed analysis at all.   

“The lack of vision of Enfield Council is staggering, given the provenance of the campus site and the excellence of the design of the heritage assets. Most councils in this land would be falling over themselves to turn such a site into a long term financial asset for the benefit of the borough as a whole.”

Leader of Enfield Council Doug Taylor, told the Enfield Independent, that was also "disappointed" with the verdict.

He said: "The decision is not a party political one and I was disappointed to learn of the outcome. At the last council we set up a working group and hopefully we can protect the future of Trent Park mansion."