THE Front Garden will be renamed Wichelstowe when it is covered in 4,500 houses.

Developer Taylor Woodrow made the announcement as the first sod was turned on the controversial 300-plus hectare development between Old Town and the M4.

Wichelstowe will be divided in to three separate "villages" to be known as West Wichel, Middle Wichel and East Wichel.

The developer says Wichel was the original name for the area recorded in the Doomesday Book of 1086 and Stowe is an Old English word meaning a meeting place.

Building has started on improvements to Croft Road installing new traffic lights adjacent to the Pipers Way roundabout.

More than 11,000 people are expected to fill the 4,500 houses that will be built in Wichelstowe over the next 15 years.

Swindon mayor Mike Bawden, who voted against the original development, said the council now had to make sure Taylor Woodrow delivered what they had promised as a high-quality new suburb.

"It's been a long, controversial development," Coun Bawden (Con, Old Town and Lawn) said.

"I personally voted against the proposal because of the concerns of my constituents in Old Town.

"But it has now got planning permission.

"What we have to make sure is that what we do get is of the highest possible standard."

Council leader Roderick Bluh (Con, Dorcan) said the development would be the best the council could get.

He said half the area would remain green open space.

"There is £15m being put in to the ecological side," Coun Bluh said.

"This is an opportunity to make a different sort of development."

He said opponents of the development had accepted building would go ahead.

"I don't think anyone is delighted it is going to happen," Coun Bluh said. "But it's sustainable."

Taylor Woodrow strategic projects director Nick Sedgwick said there was a massive need for new housing in Swindon, which Wichelstowe would go some way to answering.

"There's a huge need for new housing in Swindon," Mr Sedgwick said.

"This site has been identified since 1997.

"There's a huge in-commuting in Swindon.

"The houses will be built to a very high standard as eco-homes and 30 per cent of all the housing will be affordable."

Mr Sedgwick said there was no flooding problem.

He said the houses would be a mix of everything from starter homes to four and five bedroom executive houses.

"The infrastructure starts now," Mr Sedgwick said.

"The first phase will be complete by January.

"The first houses will be occupied by September 2007."

Mr Sedgwick said the developer would keep nearby residents informed throughout construction.

The company has launched a website www.wichelstowe.co.uk