THE fight for Swindon's Front Garden came to an end when civic leaders gave the go-ahead for building on the open fields south of the town.

Campaigners who had packed Swindon's council chamber were left disappointed when councillors voted to adopt the Wiltshire Structure Plan, which will include the land for development.

Building could begin on the Front Garden, the strip of land which separates Old Town from Wroughton, next summer.

Councillors voted 36 to 17 in favour of adopting the plan which will see the development. Those in favour crucially included a number of Conservative councillors who had refused to make their opinions known before the vote.

During a heated five-hour debate which dragged on past midnight, tempers became frayed as councillors battled to get their colleagues to vote with them.

The Liberal Democrats, who were unanimously opposed to any development on the Front Garden, pleaded with their fellow councillors to vote against the structure plan.

But Labour council leader Sue Bates (Gorse Hill and Pinehurst) warned that failure to adopt the plan would send the council into chaos, leaving it completely open for developers to come in and submit applications to build on the land.

Swindon mayor and meeting chairman Coun Arthur Archer (Lab Gorse Hill), said: "This is probably the most important question this council will look at in the next 30 years."

The council was deciding how it could meet the target of 23,000 new homes it needs to provide before the year 2011.

An independent panel from the Government's planning inspectorate told the council that, having looked at other possibilities such as Wanborough, South Marston and Wootton Basset, the 733-acre Front Garden was the most suitable site for development in Swindon.

Proposals for the Front Garden could see up to 3,800 homes built on the land. The development could also open the way for Swindon Town chairman Terry Brady to provide Swindon Town with a new stadium at Blagrove on the edge of the land. Light industrial and leisure facilities could also be built.

Liberal Democrat councillor Wendy Johnson (Old Town and Lawn) proposed an amendment to the proposal before the council to adopt the structure plan. She said the council should be committed to looking to provide accommodation needed on previously developed land and to use brownfield sites before it looked at building on greenfield sites.

Coun Johnson said: "I am saying we should wait until the northern sector of the town has been developed and we have exhausted other possibilities, before we look to build there."

Coun Bawden denied Conservatives who had voted against the Liberal Democrats had done a U-turn on policies.

"Those councillors who said they would vote against the development during the elections did so, none of those who voted for the plan said they would not in election material," he said.