MORE than 200 people packed a protest meeting about plans to build homes on meadows in central Salisbury on Wednesday.

The Longford Estate and St Nicholas Hospital want to develop 100 properties on two fields at the corner of New Bridge Road and Britford Lane.

But residents say that the fields are a vital part of the city’s landscape setting, with unspoilt views of the cathedral, and that they lie within a conservation area with protected trees and abundant wildlife.

They fear that developing the land, which holds groundwater and can flood, could increase the flood risk in nearby areas including the Cathedral Close, and would create an unacceptable increase in traffic on the A338 as well as in Burford Avenue and Burford Road.

Last week the city council’s planning committee voted to object to any development on the land. The Civic Society also objects.

But the decision will rest with Wiltshire Council, which is being forced by the government to find new sites for 5,000 homes – 600 of them in Salisbury.

Explaining the process, which will culminate in a hearing by a government inspector, Wiltshire spatial planner David Milton told the meeting at the Sea Cadet HQ that there was a housing crisis across the south.

The average property price in Salisbury was beyond the wages of 80 per cent of the population, and the age of the average first-time buyer was “edging 40”. This was just the start of the search for sites, and no decisions had been made.

“When we look at a city so environmentally sensitive, there are no easy options,” he said. “In Salisbury there are no quick wins. It’s about the least worst sites.”

The land was currently outside the designated limits for development, and anyone wanting to build on it would have to prove “exceptional circumstances”.

“But you are doing exactly the right thing by making your voices heard as early in the process as possible. It’s a democratic process, it’s meant to be transparent.”

Save The Meadows campaigners say the site is an important part of green infrastructure. “If the proposals were to go ahead, a beautiful part of unspoilt land close to the city centre would be ruined forever," said East Harnham resident Christine Stock.

“The Save The Meadows campaign is only in its infancy and has already had overwhelming support from the public, city councillors and various organisations, which proves the strength of feeling against the development of this site.

“Surely it is time for the landowners Lord and Lady Radnor and the trustees of St Nicholas Hospital to act responsibly and start listening to the people of Salisbury.”

Campaign organisers urged people to “show just how much these fields mean to the people of Salisbury” by writing to the landowners, councillors and the media and by supporting their Facebook page.