A CAMPAIGN group battling to keep land near to a local beauty spot free from becoming a housing estate want residents to bombard planners with picture postcards.

The Jefferies Land Conservation Trust has launched a ‘Save Coate’ postcard campaign to help the public write to the planning inspector holding a local planning inquiry at Steam, in Kemble Drive, on November 15.

In June, Swindon Council’s planning committee rejected a proposal for nearly 900 houses, an industrial estate and office complex on countryside at Coate and Badbury Wick.

The applicants, Redrow Homes and Persimmon Homes, then appealed to the Secretary of State over the decision and now residents will again have to make their views known to Government planners by September 23.

Jean Saunders, the secretary of the Jefferies Land Conservation Trust, said: “There are more than 52,000 signatures on a petition asking Swindon Council to protect this prized area of Swindon, “And their planning committee has voted to do just that.

“We are most grateful, and the council now needs our support.

“We want the Bristol office to be flooded with letters, and the pre-printed card will help those who are not sure what to say.

“The environmental, historic and literary value of the site far outweighs any benefits that more housing, offices and industrial units can offer.

“Once the developers get a foot-hold on this land, there are no guarantees that the fields around Coate Water will not be their next target.”

The postcards can be picked up at the Richard Jefferies Museum, which is open Sundays from 2pm to 5pm, or at the Coate Water cafe.

The address to send the postcards and letters to is: The Planning Inspectorate, 4/02 Kite Wing, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol BS1 6PN and the reference is: APP/U3935/A/11/2155834/NWF.

Further information can also be found at the website http://jefferiesland. blogspot.com.