Moves to develop the Front Garden were first announced 25 years ago.

But from the start it was clear the plans would never enjoy a smooth ride as the land fell in a rural buffer zone, which had been approved by former Tory environment minister Chris Patten.

Throughout the 1980s Swindon had a reputation as being the fastest-growing town in Europe and felt pressure to open up countryside to cope with demand from companies and families wanting to move to the town.

Far-reaching plans to develop the Front Garden around 700 acres of countryside owned by Wiltshire County Council and the Goddard Estate included a railway station, motorway intersection, southern relief road and a new football stadium. Environmental campaigners were outraged.

Swindon had developed east with housing estates like Eldene and Liden and then to the west with Freshbrook, Toothill and Shaw. Next came the Northern Development Area, which is still under development but will comprise around 10,000 homes when completed.

The only point left on the compass to follow was south, with the filling in of land sandwiched between Old Town, Okus and the M4.

But when Thamesdown Borough Council became Swindon Borough Council in 1997, it took over Wiltshire County Council's land bank and with it most of the Front Garden, further complicating the issue.

Planning blueprints for the area had always stressed the land should be kept as a rural buffer, but development interest was generated because of the demand from major firms to move to the town.

Objectors, including the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, found a voice with the Front Garden Action Group, which took its battle to prevent development to the High Court.

In 2001 FRAG campaigner Terry King narrowly lost a judicial review and to date the action group has had to pay more than £32,000 in legal fees in attempts to thwart development. They have pledged to continue fighting until the bulldozers roll in.