COUNCILLORS have thrown their support behind efforts to retain a former football ground as community open space.

The Gaelic Athletic football field in Avery Hill Road, New Eltham, has been a battleground for developers since 1968, when it was still part of Bexley borough.

Last year, a planning inspector recommended the 12.8-acre site be designated for mixed uses, along the lines of plans by developer Novalong, which wants to build 261 homes on the land.

Following borough boundary changes, the ground borders Bexley homes but is now in Greenwich and forms part of a review of Greenwich Council's Unitary Development Plan (UDP).

At first, the inspector's recommendation was backed by Greenwich Council, but Bexley Council lodged an objection to the proposed change.

But after pressure from action group Residents Against Gaelic Environmental Destruction, Greenwich has changed its mind and wants the site, owned by the Gaelic Athletic Association, to stay an open space.

The closing date for comments on changes to Greenwich's UDP was May 17.

Greenwich Council says it has received nearly 600 responses supporting its policy of no change, and 111 from people who would like to see the site re-zoned for mixed uses.

The residents' action group had hoped it had found a new user for the site in Villacourt Rovers, one of London's oldest junior football clubs, which had been homeless since 2001 and was looking for a new ground.

But two days before the UDP consultation deadline, Villacourt unexpectedly withdrew its comments in support of the residents' group, saying it had found a more suitable ground elsewhere.

In February, Bexley's planning committee was consulted on Novalong's bid to build three and four-storey blocks of homes on the site, together with a community hall and medical centre and unanimously opposed it. It had received more than 100 objections.

A public inquiry later this year will consider the site's future.