COUN David Renard advises that the deal signed with UKB Network would be too expensive for the council to terminate.

Sadly, I am sure Coun Renard is telling the truth, not least because like many people I have zero confidence in the ability of officers to have negotiated a deal which actually offers any significant protection to the council taxpayers of Swindon.

Unlike his predecessor, Coun Renard cannot claim the deal his administration signed would be a ‘first for Swindon’ neither can he claim the proposal offered by UKB Network is unique.

Indeed, there is plentiful evidence to suggest that Coun Renard and his friend Coun Perkins have been made aware of the shortcomings of the UKB Network proposals from day one.

However, a characteristic of the current administration is a sense of entitlement and self-belief which borders on being hubristic which can best be defined as domineering in manner and being arrogant.

MP Justin Tomlinson is quite correct when he cites the shortcomings of the UKB system, points made to Coun Renard but which he simply chose to ignore.

Councillors Renard and Perkins are fond of telling the people of Swindon how ‘money is tight’ and they have to make ‘tough decisions’ - the reality is quite different from the rhetoric.

UKB has persuaded a willing council to buy into a tired and outdated technology, a system which does not offer the people of Swindon a solution to poor broadband connectivity and most certainly not access to superfast broadband.

It is perhaps pertinent to remind residents of the statement made by UKB when they claimed in November 2012 that UKB’s network was ‘live’ making superfast broadband available through UKB’s retailer Now Broadband to an estimated 67,000 households.

This was achieved using 13 core transmission masts located around the town.

I leave the final word to council leader David Renard who, in June 2014, wrote: “A 4G LTE Superfast Broadband network is fully operational and open to residents and businesses across much of Swindon Borough.”

This surely begs the question; if UKB has already invested more than £1m in developing an infrastructure which allows residents and businesses to access superfast broadband, why does the council have to commission a sister company of UKB to do what at first appears to be exactly the same job?

And still our elected councillors wonder why we find it so difficult to trust anything they say.

DES MORGAN Caraway Drive, Swindon