SWINDON MP Julia Drown has joined the campaign to stop motor vehicles using the Ridgeway.

She says the ancient right of way should be protected so that walkers, cyclists, horse riders and the disabled can enjoy it without having to contend with potholes and other damage.

It follows the launch of a campaign backed by former Olympic runner Chris Brasher and mountaineer Chris Bonington to protect the route, which is the oldest road in Europe.

Ms Drown, who represents South Swindon, has written to Coun Jemima Milton, Swindon Council's lead member for transport and the environment.

She wants the borough's cabinet to consider banning the vehicles.

The MP said: "It is within Swindon's power to take action to close the Ridgeway to off-road motor vehicles. I think this could be a perfect initiative for Swindon to take up.

"It would establish Swindon as a lead organisation, one that is keen to preserve its environment for the future and to take the interests of the majority walkers, people with disabilities, cyclists, horse riders, horse drawn vehicle drivers, environmentalists and wildlife enthusiasts over the small minority of four-by-four and trail bike drivers who cause such damage to this important part of our heritage."

Chris Brasher, who paced Sir Roger Bannister when he became the first man in the world to run a mile in under four minutes, is the new president of the Friends of the Ridgeway.

He also heads the Brasher Trust, which works to preserve Britain's wild and rural areas.

At present the Ridgeway national trail, which runs from Overton Hill to Ivinghoe Beacon in Bucking- hamshire, is open to traffic for the greater part of the Wiltshire stretch.

Through other counties the path is subject to traffic orders.

Apart from one section of the 6,000 year old road at Barbury Castle, south of Wroughton, the Ridgeway in Wiltshire is open to all vehicles and is used by bikers and four wheel drive vehicles.

Coun Milton (Con, Wroughton and Chiseldon) lives on a farm near Chiseldon through which the Ridgeway passes.

She said she agreed with Ms Drown in principle but said the Government should make a ruling that would ensure every green path was protected by off-road vehicles.

She said most of the Ridgeway had been made into hard track, but a section created in the 1960s from Liddington Castle to Barbury Castle remained uncovered and had become badly churned up.

She said: "This should not just be the responsibility of the borough council. There needs to be a Government ruling on this and I would like Julia Drown to push for this.

"I am also concerned that this is a problem on other green tracks in the area. If we act here then we are simply passing the problem on elsewhere."