A CAMPAIGN to stop a new supermarket being built off a busy Salisbury road next to a flood plain is gathering momentum.

About 800 people have now signed a petition or completed a survey in relation to the Sainsbury’s proposal for a new store opposite the existing Tesco store off Southampton Road.

Last week, teenager Hamish Mundell, 16, who lives near the site, launched a petition calling for the company to consider an alternative site on environmental, traffic and planning grounds.

He said: “I wanted to do something proactive. This plan is something that will make our community suffer.” Hamish is being supported by Wiltshire councillor Richard Clewer, who joined him outside the Guildhall on Saturday to collect signatures.

Cllr Clewer said: “We got somewhere between 200 and 300 signatures in an hour and a half.”

The petition can also be found online and Cllr Clewer has also set up a survey through which people can express their opinions, either against or in favour of a supermarket on the site.

The multi-million pound Southampton Gateway project would include a petrol station, a car park and a 12-acre wildlife and wetlands area as well as modifications to Southampton Road, which the developers claim will improve traffic issues and will not exacerbate flooding problems in the area. An initial planning application for the project, which will create 400 jobs, was submitted in June 2012 but withdrawn following public consultation.

The developers say they hope to submit a new plan, taking into account public consultation, in the near future.

Cllr Clewer and Hamish are looking to go out with the petition in the city centre over coming weekends and are asking volunteers to come forward to help collect signatures.

Anyone interested can email richard.clewer@wiltshire.gov.uk.

The survey can be found at surveymonkey.com/s/RZCBQ8T and the e-petition at change.org /petitions/sainsbury-s-stop-sainsbury-s-southampton-road-plans-for-salisbury.