COUNTRYSIDE campaigners in Cheltenham are digesting the publication of a key document about the future of the town's rural fringe.

Planning consultants have unveiled recommendations for the town's green belt.

Their report is good news for those worried about the Leckhampton area but people looking to protect land around Swindon Village were dealt a bitter blow.

The document states that green belt in Leckhampton, where developers are planning to build 1,300 homes, along with commercial premises, should be protected.

However, Alice Ross, spokeswoman for Save the Countryside, which is concerned about land to the town's north west, said: "One of the arguments put forward is that the area isn't very good at preventing urban sprawl, but it will be even worse if a thousand houses are built there.

"They refer to a ribbon of development and how that destroys the openness of the green belt but building more on it will make that even worse.

"It looks as though they have done a paper exercise rather than examining it in a hands-on way."

She said the fight would go on to save land between Swindon Village and Uckington.

The report was drawn up by Amec, a consultancy, engineering and project management company and will inform planning bosses making decisions to be included in the Joint Core Strategy, which will set the tone for development in Cheltenham, Tewkesbury and Gloucester.

Leckhampton Green Land Action Group planning advisor Ian Bickerton said: "This does look like good news for Leckhampton.

"If they want to protect and extend the green belt towards Cheltenham, that is something we would support."

The Joint Core Strategy is due for publication later this month and developers and campaigners – for example, those opposed to proposals to build more than 300 homes at Starvehall Farm in Prestbury – are expecting to use it as a lobbying tool.

Tewkesbury Borough Council's corporate head of borough development Mella McMahon, speaking on behalf of all three councils, said: ''While this review will be a vital part of the evidence base that informs development plans, decisions on land for release can only be made once development requirements are known and when all factors are taken into account.

"The green traffic light, for example, does not mean that land should be released from green belt or is suitable for development.

"It just means that piece of land makes a more limited contribution and merits further consideration if development requirements show green belt land is needed."