IN a letter published in Adver on Thursday, July 24, I criticised the leader of the Conservative administration for being ‘opaque’ with regard to the £670,000 of match funding that complemented £750,000 of central government money given to ‘boost travel options available to people’.

This involved: recruiting ‘Young Active Travel Ambassadors’ and ‘befrienders’; encouraging sixth formers to use public transport by developing a mobile phone app; and make public transport, cycling and walking more visible and attractive.

While the article in the Adver on July 17 clearly stated the £670,000 was ‘council cash’ I am pleased to confirm that £534,000 of the supplementary sum is in fact provided by the Wiltshire and Swindon LEP and £136,000 from the Local Transport Plan, which also comes from central government. I believe it is the smaller sum that is ring fenced and must be spent on transport projects.

I am grateful to Coun Heenan, a director of the Wiltshire and Swindon LEP, for contacting me with regard to the figures and confirming that the SBC direct contribution to the project costs is only £25,000.

I feel sure residents would agree it would have been helpful if Coun Renard had used his column to correct the inaccuracy of the article and explained the make up of the £670,000, rather than implying the whole sum was ‘ring fenced’ .

Des Morgan, Caraway Drive, Swindon