I AM indebted to R J Taylor of Highworth (SA 15 July) who raises the issue of the repayment of the £400k Council tax payers’ loan made to Rikki Hunt’s Digital City.

The architects of the scheme first launched in Highworth, and which was claimed to be a great success at the time, promised the £400k would be repaid.

Coun Garry Perkins is on public record as saying the £400k, plus 20 per cent interest, will be repaid and for good measure he even identified where the money would be coming from – the ‘new investor’ UK Broadband.

Of course this claim was slightly ‘untrue’ as UK Broadband never became an investor in Digital City, choosing instead to sign a deal with Capita and SBC, whereby they received £1.5m as opposed to ‘investing’ in the failed company.

Councillors, and indeed officers, have sought to persuade Swindon residents that any ongoing savings associated with a change in service provider would be used to clear the Digital City debt.

This is by any means an ‘interesting accounting exercise’ but one that so far has not actually achieved the stated objective, and nor can it. The repayment of the debt rests with Digital City, and as that company has no funds the debt is a ‘write off’ item from the council’s books.

I always think it best to be very cautious whenever I read of promises from senior councillors on the basis that there is generally a significant imbalance between what is said and what actually happens.

DES MORGAN Caraway Drive, Swindon