RETIRED gardener Steve Thompson has put forward alternative plans to turn a green space in Gorse Hill, which is threatened with development, into an urban forest.

Developer Haboakus plans to build 241 homes on the former allotment site, Pickards Small Field, and the open space known as Kembrey Grass, both of which are council owned.

However campaigners and some councillors say the project should be put on hold to give the community a chance to develop its own plan and possibly exercise a new right to bid to buy the site, under the Localism Act, when the new power comes into force.

Mr Thompson, 64, who used to be a council gardener, drew up his draft proposals earlier this month after hearing about the planned development and says he has community support.

“Locally there’s tremendous support. People have been demanding I send them copies of the plans,” said Mr Thompson, of Norman Road, Gorse Hill.

“I was infuriated when I heard about these plans. I went to the meeting the local councillors held at St Barnabas Church and started handing these out. And when I ran out, people started demanding extra copies.”

The grandfather-of-two has sent his idea to several people, including MPs Robert Buckland and Justin Tomlinson, council leader Rod Bluh and other councillors.

Under the project, a committee including members of other local groups would be set up to apply to bodies such as the Forestry Commission and the Woodland Trust to secure the £1.022m needed to buy the land.

If they were successful in buying the site, the project would include planting hundreds of trees to create a sustainable woodland, planting an area of gorse, and also thining-out the existing woodland areas and put in footpaths.

This month, Swindon Council’s Cabinet agreed to a number of proposals, including for the council to sell the land to Haboakus subject to several conditions, including the granting of planning permission for the project.

Cabinet says the £30m scheme would have a number of benefits, including helping the council to meet its housing targets, enhancing the local wildlife and supporting the economy by increasing the number of residents and creating work and training opportunities.

Coun Bluh said that the Localism Act would be ‘a community right to bid, not a community right to have’, adding that Haboakus would not be able to secure national funding towards the project if there were a delay.

“At the moment we have got swathes of urban forest going through Swindon. We have got the Great Western Community Forest so we aren’t short of forest in Swindon,” he said.

“I’m not saying this is not a site for more. I’m just saying, at the moment this is a site the developers have been working on for four or five years and have invested a lot of money in and it’s right to give them a chance to submit a planning application.”