Campaigners, hoping to stop construction of thousands of new homes and a university campus at Coate, are calling on the government to make the site a Conservation Area.

The Save Coate campaign says that the archaeological and historic importance of the area under threat from development of 1,800 houses, offices and university buildings is unique.

They say that a conservation area would require that any new buildings would need to be sympathetic to the area and

not detract from its history.

Now the coalition has written to Councillor Mike Bawden, and South Swindon MP Julia Drown to set the wheels in motion as both the planning authority and the Government can designate conservation areas.

Coate boasts a host of Bronze Age, Romano-British and Medieval history that spans a period of up to about 3,000 years.

The oldest known ancient monuments at Coate are the Neolithic Stone Circle and the Bronze age burial mound along Day House Lane.

However, no less than six Stone Circles have been recorded in the Coate area linked up, in part, by avenues of large sarsen stones.

Jean Saunders, one of the leading lights of the Save Coate campaign said: "More than 14,000 people have signed a petition in support of protecting this area.

"It will add insult to injury to use modern architecture in this setting. The use of traditional building materials is vital to blend into the rural landscape and be in keeping with the history."