Andrew Ireland joins as acting director of social servicesSAVE OUR SWINDON: SO Swindon Council has a new man at the top to drive through improvements again.

Back in 2002, when the then chief executive Paul Doherty resigned, a Mr Fix-It was brought in from the Government.

Tony Allen's job was to drive improvements at the council and to help the authority to find a new permanent chief executive.

That permanent chief executive turned out to be Simon Birch, who said he wanted to see Swindon become a national example of public service.

But two years later he too has resigned and Mike Pitt has come in to drive improvements and help the authority find a new permanent chief executive.

When that chief executive is appointed he or she will no doubt be full of optimism about improving the council.

But it will all sound rather familiar.

Mr Pitt does have a proven record at Kent, which has achieved national recognition for its strong performance, but will Swindon residents believe change really is on the way because of this latest appointment?

And what about when a permanent chief executive is appointed in six months or so?

Will people just think they have heard it all before without seeing many changes?

Yes Swindon has improved from being rated poor to weak and the emphasis has changed from starting the improvements to speeding up the changes but, as the council admits, there is still a long way to go.

But there is a limit to the number of times people will believe that the latest top appointment is the one which will finally see their council services really improve.

There may also be a limit to the number of people willing to take Swindon on.

Mr Pitt insists he is not taking a risk by coming to the authority but he already has a successful career behind him and can leave Swindon after six months.

But how many more top public servants will be willing to risk their reputations by coming to Swindon promising great things?