CAMPAIGNERS are battling to save the beauty of poet William Blake’s last resting place after discovering that another piece of England’s green and pleasant land is under threat from one of London Mayor Boris Johnson’s vanity projects.

Heritage site Bunhill Fields park in London is set to be overshadowed by 10 to 11-storey tower blocks after Mr Johnson “called in” the development’s planning application.

Local residents and conservationists launched an emergency petition to stop construction going ahead, which gathered nearly 3,000 signatures in a few days.

Jet-Marie Payne’s Scottish ancestors were buried in the graveyard on the site in the late 18th century.

She told the Morning Star that when she was diagnosed with a brain tumour a few years ago, Bunhill Fields became her sanctuary.

“It might sound a bit silly, but for me at the time I was facing questions about mortality because I was very ill,” Ms Payne explained.

“It really helped to have that place where I could go and connect to my ancestry, because it was about literally being where I came from genetically.

“I know it’s five generations ago, but for me, the feelings I have about going there are not that different from going to visit my mother’s grave.

“So the idea that they are going to build these big tower blocks right next to it is really going to change how it is.”

The cemetery, which also contains the grave of Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe, was hit by German bombing during World War II and subsequently turned into a public park.

The petition’s author Niall McDevitt hopes to reach 120,000 signatures and obtain a judicial review of the proposed development.

The petition: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Boris_Johnson_We_ask_you_to_halt_the_development_of_towerblocks_by_Bunhill_Fields/