THE leader of the campaign against developing on Hampshire farmland is calling for a massive turnout at a march on Saturday.

The Save Barton Farm Group is battling proposals for 2,000 homes – which Winchester City Council planners are poised to support – on the land off Andover Road.

Gavin Blackman, pictured, the group chairman, has raised the stakes in the campaign to stop the development, saying it is vital that the people of Winchester should support the march.

He said: “Numbers are key. If people don’t do anything between now and March 14 then make a decision to come and give us half an hour and walk down the High Street. We want to demonstrate the strength of feeling – 250 people would not be enough.”

Barton Farm was earmarked in 2002 as a reserve site for a major development area by the county council. The city council is poised to include the land for development in its local development framework, which is due to be agreed on March 25 and finally adopted on April 22. The city council must find room for more than 12,000 homes over the next two decades. The march on Saturday will be from The Westgate at 10am, down the High Street to the Guildhall.

The campaign is reactivating after a relatively quiet period when the threat from Cala Homes appeared to have receded.

Mr Blackman said that mentioning the issue elicited two reactions.

He added: “One is that people thought the threat had gone away. Others thought it had already been earmarked for development and building was going ahead anyway.”

The issue is the most controversial planning scheme since the building of the M3 through Twyford Down in the early 1990s.