CAMPAIGNERS are reigniting their struggle to save farmland on the edge of Winchester from having 2,000 new homes built on it.

The Save Barton Farm Group fears that the city council is poised to say that the farmland is the best spot if major development is required.

The group has been gathering names for a petition, which it will present to the full council meeting taking place today.

Group chairman Gavin Blackman said that although nothing was yet set in stone – the council is due to confirm its crucial local development framework by the end of March – it was time to resurrect the group’s campaign.

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He said: “Over the past six months we have not done a lot of sabre-rattling.

Between now and the end of March we will be doing a lot more to raise public awareness. We hope to refresh the debate.”

Cala Homes has long wanted to build on the land, to the east of Weeke and Harestock.

Chris Slattery, for CPRE Hampshire, said: “We are hoping that the city council will not include Barton Farm as a site for a minimum of 2,300 dwellings and associated buildings such as retail outlets, for the 20-year period of the South East Plan.

“We know that in 2007-08, 75 per cent of new dwellings in the city were actually built on ‘windfall sites’, which are brownfield sites previously unallocated that had become available during the year.”

The proposed reserve site for housing at Barton Farm is strongly opposed by CPRE as it is a greenfield site.

CPRE advocates an approach whereby greenfield development should be considered only as a last resort, focusing instead on proper urban capacity studies to ensure that brownfield land is used first.