HISTORIC green space will be saved and turned into a country park as part of plans to build 500 homes in a victory for campaigners.

Huge new plans for Middle Battenhall Farm in Worcester show the land being turned into a 77-acre country park next to 500 homes.

Campaigners Middle Battenhall Farm Land Action Group (MBFLAG) have fought tough battles with developers and the council for a number of years to protect the space but has “compromised” with landowners on a plan that would see homes built but also the historic land safeguarded.

The group said it sees the plans as a balance between allowing development and protecting the land they have fought so hard to preserve.

The masterplan says the country park would include a two kilometre walking loop with various zones of wetlands, meadows, ponds, orchards, woodlands, wildflower, grasslands, and other low maintenance uses that promote wildlife and tranquillity.

Up to 500 homes would be built around the new park towards Upper Battenhall Farm and next to New College Worcester and Whittington Hall as part of the major development.

The space - dubbed one of the city’s “green lungs” - was left out of the current South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) in 2016 but plans for development were reignited two years later when the owner of Middle Battenhall Farm answered a call for potential development spots as part of a council review of its main planning blueprint.

The review of the SWDP – the council’s prime planning strategy which sets out the Worcester’s housing needs and which areas can be developed on – has already been delayed for more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A spokesman for MBFLAG said: “We are extremely grateful to the landowners for inviting our community group to work with them at such a very early stage on a local masterplan.

“This joint approach has provided a unique opportunity to achieve the local community’s aim of protecting this valuable heritage site and wildlife habitat, and making this accessible to the whole community by the creation of a new country park and informal green space for public use.

“This has been balanced with provision of development around the periphery, outside of the scheduled monument setting.

“We hope that the council also supports the masterplan and that the country park becomes incorporated into the SWDP.

“This will then also facilitate provision of much needed housing, without unnecessary harm to our city’s green lung, and sensitive heritage assets.”

MBFLAG said it had been hard to designate the land for community use in the past because it was difficult to access.

“It is this new connectivity, the new country park walking loop and the separation of these functions with considered connectivity that allows the scheme to work harmoniously to facilitate development, whilst permanently preserving and enhancing Middle Battenhall Farm in a way that promotes wildlife habitat and provides informal green space for the public to enjoy and utilise,” the group said.

The homes would be accessed from the Swinesherd Way roundabout through Bannut Tree Field.

A new care home and small shop is also proposed and new car park and café would also be built for visitors to the park.

New routes would also be created including a walking and cycle route to the east onto Whittington Road towards the island near The Swan allowing direct access to Whittington CE Primary School from the new homes.

Scott Winnard , agent for the landowners, said: “This is very exciting as it is a community-led approach which in itself is quite unique.

“It helps to protect what needs protecting, it will enhance the green space and biodiversity, providing public access and new cycling and pedestrian routes, in a managed way, connecting other communities.

“We are proud to be working with the Extra Care Charitable Trust to deliver much-needed elderly care facilities within Worcester city.

“Housing will be linked to the business park, with an emphasis on walking and cycling connectivity.”