CAMPAIGNERS have vowed to continue fighting against development of the Front Garden despite Swindon Council giving the go-ahead for 4,500 new homes to be built there.

The Front Garden Action Group (FRAG) led by Terry King lost its latest battle when the council's planning committee decided by nine votes to two to let development start. Bulldozers could move in as early as next year.

Now the last throw of the dice rests with the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who will decide before the summer whether to rubberstamp the decision or call it in for a public inquiry.

FRAG collected 10,000 signatures in the space of seven years from people opposed to development, but at Saturday's showdown meeting at the Wyvern Theatre only about 100 protesters showed up.

Mr King said: "In his New Year's message the Archbishop of Canterbury talked of trust in family life, trust in business, but most of all trust in those in position of power. The public's trust in Swindon Council is constantly being eroded, for instance broken promises about when the central library will be built, protection of the Coate Water area and the Front Garden.

"In the period 1990 to 1995 there were three motions carried in the council promising never to allow development on the Front Garden. Yet a year after becoming a unitary authority in 1997 the same councillors who supported those earlier motions then voted for the Front Garden as the chosen site for development."

Cash-strapped Swindon Council, which owns 74 per cent of the land sandwiched between Old Town, Okus and the M4, could benefit to the tune of £100 million by allowing Bryant Homes to build on the land.

Coun Ian Dobie (Con, Haydon Wick) defended the development, saying the decision was out of Swindon's hands.

He said: "It's not Swindon demanding this development, it's government edict and us sharing the number of new homes that has to be built. You can't stop progress."

Mr King claimed an in-house council appraisal on the suitability of development of the Front Garden was "fundamentally flawed" and a "blatantly biased document".

He is now urging campaigners to lobby Mr Prescott to instigate a public inquiry.

"The Front Garden Action Group does consider there have been serious errors and we strongly recommend an independent inquiry should now be held.

"The council constantly boasts it intends to protect the environment and the developer boasts the development would enhance the environment this is hypocrisy. In no way can the addition of 4,500 dwellings on a greenfield site be considered an improvement to the environment."