THE petition urging the Government not to close RAF Lyneham now has more than 11,000 signatures and more are still being added.

MP James Gray says he plans to present it this month.

"There has been an awful lot of support and we still have some more signatures coming in," said Mr Gray.

He said he intends to take the next opportunity to present the petitions to the Speaker at the House of Commons.

In November Ministry of Defence chiefs announced they were reviewing the future of RAF Lyneham as they identified the most suitable base for the A400M aircraft, which will work with the C-130J Hercules to form the RAF's air transport fleet.

Mr Gray said the campaign has come as far as it can.

"We've had the debate, the petitions, the public questions, and spoken to the Defence Minister, and I can't think of many more things we can do," he said.

To show his support the MP sported an RAF Lyneham tie during questions on defence at in the House of Commons on Monday.

"People on our side noticed it and commented on how good it was to support the base, but I'm not sure the other side appreciated it," he said.

"We've got our message across to the Government and now have to hope that they listen."

He said David Cameron, the Oxfordshire MP representing the Brize Norton area, has also joined the campaign to save Lyneham.

"His campaign has been much less active than ours but he has spoken out quite strongly against the closure of Lyneham," said Mr Gray.

Sam Wright, a retired Squadron Leader who served at Lyneham, and is a member of the Save Lyneham group, said it is now a case of waiting to see whether the campaign has swayed the Government's opinion.

"We have done just about everything and it's just the petition to go in now," he said. "The support has been really excellent, everyone is positive, and we have to keep our fingers crossed."