The £9.2m swimming pool for Blackbird Leys may not hit its Olympic opening target because of the bid to turn the area into a town green.

Fourteen opponents to the pool in Blackbird Leys Park have submitted an application to turn the park into a protected ‘town green’.

If successful, it would mean builders could not touch the site and the pool plan would hit the buffers.

But even if that fails, Oxford City Council says building will be at least three months overdue and means it will not be built in time for its target in 2012.

The council has also been forced to set up a £350,000 fighting fund to battle the town green bid.

Oxford City Council service director Tim Sadler said: “We are quite frustrated that we have gone all this way and a small group intent on protecting the Temple Cowley pools have submitted this town green application.

“We are now unlikely to have the pool finished in time for the end of the Olympics. It was due to become part of that legacy.”

Work on the pool was due to start soon, with completion expected in late 2012. It is now likely to be pushed back to 2013.

Councillors said if protesters continued with their plans, the delays could last months or even years.

The city council, as landowners, has 42 days to respond to the application and then the applicants have a further 24 days to respond. The final decision rests with Oxfordshire County Council, but it has no set timeframe in which to decide.

Mr Sadler said: “We are confident we can defeat the application on matters of law, but we are going to have to go through this whole legal process.

“It will delay the project and have spin-off effects on the economy.”

The Temple Cowley Pools and Blackbird Leys swimming pool will close once the new pool is complete. The project budget stands at £9.2m, with build costs of around £7m.

City councillor Van Coulter said an additional “contingency cost” of £350,000 had been added to pay for legal fees and the increasing cost of materials. Cllr Coulter said: “With every week the price of steel continues to rise, so it will cost more the longer we leave it.

“That is money the council would rather be spending on services.”

Councillors have also raised worries about the impact on a planned £130,000 revamp of the park playground.

Pegasus Road resident William Clark is part of the group that has applied for the town green status.

He said: “I have been here since 1973 and in all that time, that land has been green space. It has been used as recreation space and schools use it as a running track.

“It is the only green space in Blackbird Leys and we can’t let the council build whatever they like there.”

Earlier this week, city councillor Val Smith said she was “hopping” that plans for a skate park and new play equipment would have to be put on hold.

Head of leisure and parks Ian Brooke said: “These plans would freeze the area as it is. We want to make the park one of the best in the city.”