I THINK Councillor Renard is being opaque when he cites the reason for not being able to spend £750k of a Government grant on children's centres or indeed on any other project. The Leader of the Council is well aware that the issue is not about the grant but the £670k of match funding which will come out of council coffers.

Some might say that the council should not pass up on the opportunity to get £750k – others might opine that the ‘tough decision’ might be to forgo the Government grant and spend the £670k on something else.

The Government might well have allocated the money to ‘boost travel options available to people’ but is Coun Renard seriously expecting taxpayers to applaud the recruitment of ‘Young Active Travel Ambassadors’ and ‘befrienders’ or a scheme to encourage sixth formers to use public transport by developing a mobile phone app? If so they are less in touch with the real world than I thought.

One can only smile whimsically at the thought of someone in a darkened room at the civic offices poring over the first draft of ‘Personalised Travel Planning’ and agonising over this difficult question – how do we make public transport, cycling and walking more visible and attractive?

Coun Renard might think £1.4 million is a price worth paying to know that a resident who takes part in the scheme will reduce car travel by 12 miles per week or walk 36 minutes more; on the other hand many Swindon residents will recognise it for what it really is – a barmy scheme concocted on a balmy day. Too much sun I think.

Des Morgan, Caraway Drive, Swindon