The Government's decision to allow a large group of gipsies permission to stay permanently on what had been an illegal site has led an MP to claim nowhere in the countryside is safe from being developed.

North Wiltshire MP James Gray said planning regulations in the countryside were blown apart and now meant nothing in the wake of the decision by a Government planning inspector to allow 55 gipsies to stay on land they developed in Mr Gray's constituency.

And a spokesman for gipsies in the South West agreed cases like the one in Wiltshire were bound to be more common, because the families found it increasingly hard to live life on the road and were looking for permanent bases.

Maggie Smith-Bendell hailed the victory of the gipsies in Minety, near Malmesbury, but admitted more conflicts were likely.

But Tory MP Mr Gray, who helped residents campaign against the development, said the case set a precedent that any piece of the countryside could now be developed by gipsies, for whom, he said, the Government had a different set of rules.

Mr Gray said: "The district council did what they could, turning this down twice. The inspector did all she could do under Government regulations, but it is now clear that this sets a very, very dangerous precedent.

"What this means is that any other gipsy group in England or, in fact, anywhere from the EU, can now come to us here in north Wiltshire ,or indeed anywhere in the West Country, and buy a piece of land, develop it and claim to be gipsies and be allowed to stay.

"These aren't romantic gipsy caravans, they are bungalows with front gardens, fences and they are not mobile homes, they are not going anywhere." The tactic of gipsies buying land and developing it very quickly, then battling local planners, has now become a common, with the Minety case being the first large-scale development.

Since the August Bank Holiday of 2003, when the Minety gipsies arrived, other large-scale sites have been developed in the same way, including at North Curry in Somerset and Semington in west Wiltshire.

Other, smaller-scale cases, often involving groups of a dozen or fewer gipsies, have been vexing planners.

Mr Gray said all those developments since the Minety 2003 case were now certain to be approved from the precedent set in North Wiltshire, and that more would follow.

He said: "It absolutely blows apart any kind of planning control anywhere now. The implications are extremely grave for the countryside and we'll have an explosion of these types of illegal gipsy sites springing up all over the place. Only a change in the law to curtail this will do."

The decision of the planning inspector was no surprise to councillors in North Wiltshire, who dropped an 11th-hour attempt to find an alternative site for the Minety families back in May.

Council chiefs had sparked huge outrage in Calne, Wootton Bassett and Chippenham, by short-listing six council-owned sites that could be used.

They faced a huge march and packed meeting halls with thousands protesting against the plan. The Minety gipsies said they did not want to be moved on from the village they now recognised as home after five years.

Mrs Smith-Bendell, a spokesman for the gipsy community in the South West, said regulations preventing the travelling community from stopping in its traditional places on the sides of roads meant the Minety case was likely to be repeated.

She said: "The group is absolutely over the moon about Monday's decision. To have a permanent base as a Romany gipsy is something really fantastic.

"There have been tensions in the area and negative feelings on both sides but now the villagers have to get on with the gipsies because they aren't going anywhere.

"Traditionally, Romany gipsies travel everywhere but these days we need a base from which to travel.

"We aren't allowed to stop on common land and grass verges any more and that has led to us setting up bases which will make conflicts such as this more likely.

"I think the villagers as well as the gipsies just want to get on with their lives now. The planning permission has been granted. This is an important decision and a big victory but travelling is in our blood and in our heritage and we will never ever give it up."