A CONSERVATION trust is determined to fight council plans to build on an area they say should be protected for its outstanding beauty.

And the Jefferies Land Conservation Trust has vowed to buy up any available land to stop developers from moving in.

The trust is opposed to Swindon Council's plans for 750 houses, as well as 15 hectares of employment land at Common-head, near Coate Water Country Park.

It claims that the plans go against the council's promise that if no university comes forward to build a campus in the Coate/Badbury Wick area, no houses will be built there.

Jean Saunders, pictured, secretary of the trust said: "No houses means no houses.

"The council might propose a larger buffer around Coate Water Country Park that they claim will be safe from development, but we might have this same battle again in a few years' time.

"Only seven years ago we were promised that the only new building in this corner of the town would be the new hospital and we won't be fooled again."

The proposal was included in the Swindon Core Strategy, which sets out the council's preferred options for the development of Swindon up to 2026.

The consultation paper was presented to the cabinet for approval on January 23.

The trust, which has previously fought proposals for the University of Bath to build at Coate, had asked that the land be re-designated as an Area of Local Landscape Importance.

Up until five years ago the area was protected due to its high visual value.

Mrs Saunders said: "Our members have agreed to set up a land fund with the intention of fund-raising to buy as much of the threatened farmland as possible and turn it into a wildlife haven, given a positive response from the land owners.

"We hope that Swindon people will back this idea and dip into their pockets to help".

The Jefferies Land Conservation Trust, named after the Victorian nature writer Richard Jefferies who lived at Coate, was set up in 2005.

It aims to protect and enhance the landscape around Coate Water.

For more information go to http://jefferiesland.org.uk or call Jean Saunders on 01793 783040.