A campaign has been launched to safeguard a patch of grassland in Windmill Hill because of fears it will be ruined by a planned bendy-bus scheme for south Bristol.

The triangular site lies between Cotswold Road and the railway line near Bedminster station.

A row of terraced derelict houses once stood on the site, but they were demolished for safety reasons. The area is now grassed and regularly mown.

Community activist Dr Nancy Carlton has now applied for the patch of open space to be designated as a town green.

She helps to run the Kingsfisher Group whose members are keen to protect the environment.

They are worried the site will be ruined by plans to run a Bus Rapid Transit route from the northern fringe, through the city centre out to Hengrove and eventually to a park-and-ride site at Whitchurch.

The BRT is a bendy-bus which runs on its own designated track.

Dr Carlton, who lives in Cotswold Road and is a lecturer in housing law, said: "It's a very popular open space, especially for the kids. They love to play there and are always playing cricket and so on. It's also used for community events.

"We believe it has been earmarked for a stop for the new BRT because it is close to the railway station and fits in with the idea of an integrated transport scheme.

"But from our point of view, it will have a huge impact of our quality of life if this site is ruined."

Members believe that as well as a BRT stop, part of the site would be lost to new track parallel to the existing railway line.

Dr Carlton said: "They ought to keep the BRT to roads and not take our breathing spaces away from us."

Nearly £50 million has been promised by the Government to pay for the first BRT route between the Ashton park-and-ride site and the city centre.

It is not yet clear when this route to Hengrove would be built.

The BRT scheme is being promoted by the West of England Partnership, a body which represents the four councils in the former Avon area. Dr Carlton said they had received briefing documents from the partnership to Bristol City Council on the South Bristol route.

She said one of the diagrams clearly shows a BRT stop near Bedminster railway station.

Partnership spokeswoman Julia Dean said there was a long way to go before the route for the South Bristol rapid transit was decided.

She said there would have to be a lengthy consultation exercise, so that everyone's views could be considered.

There would also have to be a business case for each stretch of the route so the scheme was efficient and viable.

She said: "We have no fixed route for the city centre out to Hengrove.

"There are lots of options and each one will have to be considered carefully."

Anyone who wants to object to the application for town green status should send a statement to Bristol City Council, College Green, BS1 5TR before September 30,

The application will be discussed at a meeting of the council's Public Rights of Way Committee on a date to be fixed.