Four thousand people are now demanding that an area of open space must be retained in Witney's Marriots Close development project.

Geoffrey Nutt and Glynn Phillips, of Action to Improve Marriotts (Aim), have handed a 4,000-signature petition to Geoff Bonner and David Harvey, of West Oxfordshire District Council.

Aim argues that Marriotts Close, a planned redevelopment of land formerly home to the town's football club, is at risk of becoming a "concrete jungle".

The council, which owns the land, carried out public consultation before choosing the proposed mixture of shops, houses, a cinema and multi-storey car park.

Mr Nutt said: "This is an impressive level of support, even greater than a 2003 town poll to reject the superstore planning application on this site. "We urge the council to ensure that the Marriotts Close development now includes one acre of green space, to reflect this strong expression of the wishes of west Oxfordshire voters."

Mr Harvey, chairman of the council's Marriotts Close working party, told the Oxford Mail earlier this month there would be another round of consultation when a planning application is submitted in the spring, and that the plan included "significant areas of public amenity space".

He said Aim's campaign was misleading.

He added: "I look forward to the developers submitting their plans to the council for planning permission, at which point there will be a further round of public consultation, and everyone in Witney and the whole of west Oxfordshire will have the opportunity to comment."

It is expected the application will be lodged with the council within the next few months.