The people of Swindon will be asked where, and how, their town should expand.

The council’s cabinet has voted to go to public consultation on options for renewing the town’s Local Plan – a legally required document setting out how the borough develops.

It says Swindon needs to identify space for another 1,000 houses over and above the areas already identified for expansion – such as the developments at Tadpole Garden Village and the New Eastern Villages.

There are four options – significant development of more than 500 houses in the St Andrews and Blunsdon area; a similar volume of houses in and surrounding Broad Blunsdon; a focus on Wroughton in the south of the borough or what planners call graduated dispersal. The latter would see allocations in Wroughton and Highworth and then across the other villages of the borough.

Gary Sumner, the cabinet member for strategic planning, said: “We want to revise the existing Local Plan. We want to include increased protection for Coate Water and Day House Lane as a green corridor will also be protected.

“We went through the SHELAA (Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment) process earlier, which wasn’t something we had to do, and we listened to what people said about that – so we will also listen to what they say about the options in this revision

“The good news is that we already have a large amount of our housing target earmarked for developments like Wichelstowe and the New Eastern Villages. This means we are not looking for a large greenfield expansion as we have done in the past and our focus is on delivering housing on those sites that have already been allocated.

“The Local Plan review also gives us the chance to look at some of our housing policies so they deliver the types of developments we want to see across the borough, focusing on issues such as improved air quality and limiting the amount of betting shops, payday loan shops and drinking establishments, which can have a negative impact on communities.”

Coun Sumner was challenged by Labour councillors, including Jane Milner-Barry, over why the existing plan’s policy on sustainable construction has been removed.

She said: “I’m glad Coate Water is to be protected. But why has the policy on sustainable building been removed? The Local Plan is meant to be one of the tools we use in combatting climate change, but we know have no specific policy in the plan about climate change.”

Coun Sumner said that policies on sustainability and energy efficiency and flooding were all included in planning policies and building regulations.

The plan will be subject to an eight-week consultation.