RESIDENTS of Cricklade turned out in force to preserve the identity of the ancient Saxon town.

About 100 people attended the meeting to voice their fears about possible urban development in the Swindon area which local people believe could compromise the town's identity.

Clive Wilce, the chairman of the town council, pictured, said: "I was thrilled to bits with the turn-out. In the next few days we will finalising our response, taking into account the views we heard at the meeting, and submitting it the South West Regional Assembly."

Residents who came to the meeting were divided into groups for a workshop session.

Coun Wilce said: "All the groups came back with similar views. They did not support the accelerated growth of Swindon.

"There were pretty obvious reasons that the current infrastructure of Swindon does not really support the 16,000-24,000 homes that are proposed in the study and that's a message we will be sending back to the South West Regional Assembly."