GREEN spaces currently on a council list of potential housing development sites could be taken on by a parish council, if councillors have their way.

South Swindon Parish Council wants to take on parcels of land in the Lawns and around Coate Water roundabout.

The sites currently appear on Swindon Borough Council’s strategic housing and economic land availability assessment, a list of plots that could in the future be developed to meet the town’s housebuilding targets.

Residents have opposed the inclusion of the green spaces on the SHELAA. And on Tuesday evening, South Swindon parish councillors unanimously voted on a motion requesting a 99 year lease for the green spaces at Lakeside and north of the Coate Water roundabout at Oldlands Walk and opposite the Shell garage.

Chris Watts, chairman of the parish council, said: “It’s the parish council’s intention to become the custodian of these parcels of land in order to protect them for future generations. The borough council does need to build houses, but we have enough brownfield land to do this.”

The motion won cross-party support from the parish council.

Nick Burns-Howell, a Conservative parish councillor for Old Town, said: “This is a good idea. I think we should be uniting as a parish to play our role in protecting the important green spaces. I’m very supportive of this proposal.”

John Short, a former UKIP parliamentary candidate and now Conservative parish councillor, added: “They should never have been brought in [to the SHELAA] in the first place. To build on land like this, well I don’t understand it.”

Janine Howarth, Labour parish councillor for the central ward, said the borough council had failed to recognise the value of the plots as amenity spaces for dog walkers and others using the parks.

Coun Gary Sumner, the cabinet member for strategic planning, said the land in the parish’s sights was suitably assessed as having potential for development. He would be meeting with South Swindon Parish Council in the coming weeks.

“At the moment many sites are being assessed and not all will end up being developed,” he added. “That’s not the point of the review, it’s to find housing and employment land. Coate Water is across the road as a protected space for future generations.”