CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save “Blandford’s Crown Jewel” have come face-to-face with district planning chiefs.

Members of the Bryanston Park Preservation Group (BPPG) recently held a summit meeting with planning bosses at North Dorset District Council in a bid to derail plans for 200 houses on the town’s Crown Meadows.

Residents have gained more than 2,000 signatures opposing the development after proposals from landowner Crown Estates were included in a district council housing blueprint for development in the town after 2016.

BPPG spokesman, John Cook, told councillors that the scale of opposition to the plans had overwhelmed residents of the 29 houses overlooking Bryanston Park.

“None of us expected the overwhelming numbers of residents from all over Blandford, the county and beyond who come forward readily to object to what they saw as the desecration of Blandford’s ‘crown jewel’,” said Mr Cook.

Richard Bagnell, a former district planning officer now acting as a consultant to the BPPG, told councillors that campaigners wanted Bryanston Park removed from any post-2016 planning consideration.

“We know that you have received many, many responses wholly opposed to any development here and we feel you have seriously underestimated the extent to which the community holds Bryanston Park so dear,” he said.

Mr Bagnell urged planning bosses to consider land south of the town between the A350 and the A354 with access via the Tesco roundabout.

But a spokesman for North Dorset District Council said the results of a County Hall transport strategy, which might suggest use of the land for a Charlton Marshall bypass, was needed before the site could be considered.

He said the council was awaiting further government instruction after Communities Secretary Eric Pickles MP declared the previous government’s draft Regional Spatial Strategy would be scrapped.

“Until we receive instruction, the suggestions in the New Plan will remain on the table for discussion.

“The fact that there is a recession doesn’t mean that there is no longer a need for new housing in North Dorset,” the spokesman said.