PLANS to build 40 flats on a chunk of playing fields in Glasgow's West End have sparked a storm of protest.

PLANS to build 40 flats on a chunk of playing fields in Glasgow's West End have sparked a storm of protest.

Cash-strapped Hillhead Sports Club - until recently home to rugby team Glasgow Warriors - and Barratt Homes have lodged a joint application for a four-storey development.

Club bosses have said the plan, which would see part of the site remain as a sporting facility, is vital to safeguard the club's future.

But campaigners say the development will have a negative impact on the conservation area and have bombarded the council with 53 letters of objection and 33 e-mails.

One of the fears is that a memorial to former school pupils who died in the First World War could be lost forever if the plan is approved.

The protesters say Hughenden playing fields, in Hughenden Road, Hyndland, pay tribute to the Hillhead High School pupils killed in the war.

Richard Low, of Hughenden Residents Association, said: "Not only will we lose a valuable and much-used rugby playing field, we will also see a part of Glasgow's history lost forever.

"We want Hillhead Sports Club to survive and prosper, but we believe a disposal of this magnitude is not the best way forward for Glasgow in general and the West End in particular.

"The city council should not endorse the loss of this war memorial and fabulous sporting facility, particularly given the city's new-found sporting status as host of the 2014 Commonwealth Games."

The plan also includes the partial demolition and replacement of the clubhouse and stand, the erection of floodlighting and a 18ft boundary fence.

The club hosts several Hillhead rugby teams and until recently was home to Glasgow Warriors, who this season are playing at Partick Thistle's ground Firhill.

It is also home to Scotland's female rugby team and Scottish schoolboy and B rugby internationals.

Martha Wardrop, Green councillor for Hillhead, said: "The proposal goes against the wishes of the benefactor who gifted the land to the club.

"This memorial recreation ground should be saved as a unique part of Glasgow's sports heritage."

When the plans were first mooted, club chairman Ron Meikle said: "We're in financial peril and if we don't go forward with this development there won't be a future for the club."

The plan was being considered by city planners today.

Hillhead is the latest city sports club to look at selling off green space to generate cash.

In 2004, Dowanhill Tennis Club members voted to sell their land to builder Strathclyde Homes for £6million, netting members £100,000 each.

But the move prompted opposition from local people determined to keep the facility.