PROPOSALS from The Range to bring a distribution centre and shop to Chippenham have been dealt a major blow following the classification of archaeological findings on the site.

The Secretary of State for State for Culture, Media and Sport this week dismissed an appeal by First Industrial, development agents of The Range, who were attempting to demonstrate that the archaeological findings were not of national importance.

The 1.3 hectare site, which includes a Romano-British farmstead, will remain on the Secretary of State’s schedule of monuments and keep its legal protection. The land is in the middle of the 17 hectares that The Range wants to develop.

Campaigners fighting against the The Range building a distribution centre and shop on green fields next to the A350 in Chippenham are hoping this will be the final nail in the coffin for retailer.

Allington Action Group chair Howard Ham said: “It makes it very, very difficult for it to go ahead but not impossible. One can never be 100 per cent confident because they have not withdrawn the application.

“We are pleased as we didn’t think it was in the right place for Chippenham and still don’t. We are also pleased that the archaeology may be an upside to what has been a difficult year.

“Excavation, cataloguing and removing it is technically an option, I suspect that’s the only loop hole left open to them but that will add six months to a year so it will not allow anything to happen any time soon.”

Campaigners believe paragraph 132 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which states that 'substantial harm to or loss of designated heritage assets of highest significance, notably scheduled monuments' should be 'wholly exceptional' could spell the end of their battle.

Mr Ham added: “I think it’s very difficult for them to proceed given the NPPF and the wholly exceptional wording. It’s a shame the focus is on the archaeological site when there are so many other bad points to the application.”

The appeal decision acknowledged that the construction of the distribution centre would provide jobs and a boost to the local economy but that such arguments were not relevant to the decision on the monument's importance in terms of statuary scheduling.

A spokesman for Historic England, which made the original recommendation to the DCMS that the site be scheduled, said: “We think this is a nationally important historic site so we recommended that it be scheduled. Archaeological evaluation has shown that part of the settlement survives reasonably well, despite plough damage, with considerable surviving structural remains.

“Evaluation has also confirmed that the site is a high status Roman farmstead with significant potential for adding to our understanding of the development of the agrarian economy and the social and economic changes that the Roman Conquest brought.”

First Industrial declined to comment on the decision.