A petition thought to be the largest ever handed in to Harrow Council is calling for the authority to block the building of a caravan site in a playing field.

Neighbours of Broadfields Country Club in Headstone Lane, Harrow, had thought they had successfully fought off the plan previously when in May last year, the applicant Harrow Community Sports withdrew its application the day before Harrow Council’s planning committee were expected to refuse the application to develop the land into a caravan and camp site with 75 pitches.

Amended proposals were resubmitted in December however, but campaigners have mustered 4,228 signatures for their petition to stop the site coming to Harrow.

Georgia Weston, of Headstone Lane, North Harrow, said: "The land is obviously very dear to the local community. It would be really nice if instead of these proposals we could use it for the benefit of the community.

"We have lost a lot of playing fields in Harrow and it is really important that we try and hold on to as many as we can, and that starts with Broadfields."

It is felt that the conversion of the 2.2 hectares of the Green Belt land which would include the creation of roads and the building of a waste disposal unit plus a reception centre would take the land irreversibly out of the hands of neighbours who believe the land should be used for sport and community events.

Jill Stokes, of Headstone Lane, said after handing the petition in to Harrow Council alongside her fellow campaigners: "What benefit to the people of Harrow does this proposal bring? None of us can work it out.

"There will be more traffic, more congestion and we just do not want it. The fields should be used for something positive, not this."

More than 3,700 people signed a petition as a part of the first Save Broadfields campaign, but while some amendments have been made to the proposals since its resubmission, the campaign has won an extra 500 followers the second time round.

James Bond, an Independent councillor for Headstone North ward, said: "The community is yet again saying a resounding 'no' to this development. The opposition is even stronger the second time around, which is profoundly encouraging."

It is expected that the application will be considered by Harrow Council's planning committee next month.