THE headline in the Advertiser on April 1 about a business park which could create 1,500 new jobs is complete fantasy, as there are many empty offices and factories now and some have never been let.

The answer is to turn these into low cost homes as there is an acute shortage of low cost housing.

Some large organisations have relocated or reduced staff, so there is also space to let.

Concerning growth in the economy, most of this will come from home-grown jobs based on e-business. I know a number of people who have been made redundant and are now running their own businesses.

There is an entrepreneurial spirit in Swindon that is ignored by the borough council.

There is unemployment due to manufacturing companies in the UK being late investing in automation and the fact that much manufacturing now going to areas where labour is much cheaper, such as China.

So the answer is to say no to expansion and concentrate on home-grown jobs. We must change the council's mind-set or the alternative will be a ghost town.

B BURROWS

Fairlawn, Swindon