A PETITION against plans for a new private hospital on farmland in Poole has attracted more than 2,000 signatures.

Opposition to Nuffield Health's proposal for the land near Bournemouth University and Talbot Heath has spiralled before the organisation has even formally submitted an application to the council.

The registered health charity said last month it was close to exchanging contracts with Talbot Village Trust for part of the site at Highmoor Farm.

After seeing reports in the Daily Echo, resident Kerry Batcock set up the online petition to protect Poole's last urban farm.

"It is quite important," she said. "It is a wildlife corridor and it prevents the heath from being completely surrounded by development.

"It is also about the idea of the hospital itself. If you put a hospital on that land, it is not that there aren't benefits to a hospital, it is that they want build quite a large building, which will have a lot of employees. It includes a four-storey car park in the plan.

"The heath will impacted regardless of if they build on it or next to it. Slowly but surely, if these plans get accepted, it is just another erosion of our green space.

"There are so many people who enjoy that area, especially during lockdown."

Bournemouth Echo: Highmoor Farm near Talbot Heath. Picture: Google MapsHighmoor Farm near Talbot Heath. Picture: Google Maps

Ms Batcock, who lives near the heath on the Poole side, said the support from the community for the petition was "absolutely brilliant".

She said that she does not believe all of the benefits of the new hospital would outweigh what would lost as a result of the scheme.

"We need to think about the future and what we want to do about our green spaces," she added.

"BCP Council has adopted the new Environment Act early and if they really want to meet those targets of biodiversity then they will have to reconsider how they allow development on these places."

Talbot Village Trust has plans, identified in the Poole Local Plan and part of the current BCP Council Local Plan issues and options consultation, for an "innovation quarter" on the land at Highmoor Farm, near Bournemouth University.

The trust said Nuffield Health's plan would be a "key anchor occupier" for its "wider vision".

A spokesperson for the trust said innovation quarter would provide a "unique opportunity to provide an inspiring environment for entrepreneurial businesses in the digital industries to grow".

The wait continues for a decision from the council on Talbot Village Trust's planning for a "heathland support area", which would see 30 acres of farmland converted into the publicly-accessible park.

Residents of the Preserve Talbot Heath Facebook group have maintained their opposition to this proposal, which they say is being tabled to allow the innovation quarter to go ahead.

Ms Batcock's petition can be viewed online at change.org/p/talbot-village-trust-stop-the-destruction-of-the-last-remaining-farmland-on-talbot-heath-poole