Thousands of people have signed a petition urging Sutton Council to scrap plans to reshape the the borough’s green belt to allow building, including on land used by a horse-riding centre for disabled children.

The authority earmarked land in Wellfield Gardens, Carshalton, as a potential site for development as part of its draft local masterplan.

But Diamond Riding Centre for Disabled Riders uses the land as an area for its horses to graze and said the number of horses they can keep will be reduced if the proposal gets the go-ahead.

LAST MONTH: Disabled children's riding centre at risk from Sutton Council proposal to build on green belt

The petition, which was put together last week and is expected to be handed to the authority on Monday, has more than a thousand signatures so far.

An e-petition is also running on the council’s website.

The council will discuss options within its local plan – including the Wellfield Gardens proposal – in the housing, economy and business committee meeting on June 21.

Steve Axon, chairman of the Diamond Centre, said if the council push through the proposal it would be an “absolutely outrageous” decision.

He said: “The support we have seen for the petition has been amazing, I believe we are moving towards 2,000 signatures.

“The core of the centre is based on the number of horses we have, and if the grazing area is taken away we will have to significantly reduce the number we can keep.

“In that there is a financial impact alongside a greater impact on the children who use the facilities and rely on the centre for recreation.

“It would be absolutely outrageous if this goes through.”

The first consultation stage for the council’s draft Local Plan ended last month.

Within the plan seven sites of green belt and Metropolitan Open Land status were identified as potentially suitable to accommodate new housing developments or schools in the borough.

Tom Brake, Lib Dem MP for Carshalton and Wallington, who chose the riding centre as his charity for 2015/16 fundraising, said he objected to the council’s proposal in relation to Wellfield Gardens.

He said: “I accept that there is an important need to build more homes but the focus should be on developing brownfield sites and pressing harder to bring empty buildings back into use.

“It is possible that in exceptional circumstances, where for instance a green belt land swap takes place - replacing green belt land which secures permission for development with other land of equal or greater amenity value and size - that development of the green belt might be permissible."

He added: “I don’t see any exceptional circumstances in this case so I oppose any housing being built on this site and would like to add my name to the Save Wellfield Plantation Green Belt petition.”