Hundreds of residents have banded together to prevent a parcel of green space in Falmouth from being built on.

The town council has approached the Rotary Club, who own the field in Bosvale, asking it to gift the land. The club has said it will consider the request.

Meanwhile, 727 residents had signed a petition at the time of writing urging Rotary to gift the field to the community.

They are concerned about a recent planning application that would see a five-storey, 69-bed retirement home managed by The Abbeyfield Society on the green space.

Residents have been trying to stop the field being built on for years; the Packet reported in 2014 that the plans were first unveiled the previous summer.

There are also concerns about the community centre on the field that is in need of renovation. The council has said that it hopes to refurbish the building if it manages to acquire the land.

Stacey Guthrie started the petition. Her house backs on to the land and she has concerns about potential overlooking issues and the environmental impact of the proposed development.

She said: "It's obviously a field, not a building site. It's not appropriate.

"There are animals in there: Owls, bats. I moved here from a five acre smallholding. There are more birds here than I ever saw in the 15 years on the smallholding.

"It's never empty. People are constantly there."

Falmouth Packet:

She went on to say: "What we want to do with the petition is show the Rotary Club how much support there is for the land to go back to the town council."

Another resident, Wendy McDonald of Charles Avenue, said: "We are keen to support the improvement of the Community Centre and its facilities while retaining the natural, accessible and practical space which the field offers."

It was thought that the Rotary Club had been gifted the land initially, but the club has now clarified that this is not in fact the case and that the land was purchased.

Town clerk Mark Williams said in a meeting of the town's planning committee on Monday December 2 that the council had already approached the Rotary Club with an offer to buy the land which had been rejected.

The Rotary Club has now said that this was also not the case and that no offer was made.

Peter J Griffiths, president of the Rotary Club of Falmouth, said: "Thank you for giving us the opportunity to comment on this subject.

"The Bosvale property has been owned by Falmouth Rotary Club for some half a century.

"We have noted and would like to correct the claim, which appeared recently in The Packet, that The Rotary Club was 'gifted' or 'given' the property. This is untrue. It was purchased by Falmouth Rotary Club.

"Another unsourced assertion, that the Town Council had written to Rotary asking to be given the land and that Rotary had declined is also untrue.

"The Council has kindly confirmed that no such letter was sent."