GOOD progress is being made on the construction of a new depot for bus operator Thamesdown Transport.

John Owen, managing director of Thamesdown Transport said: "Construction is well on the way, and at the moment on budget. We are pleased with progress."

The £4.6m new depot is being built on a five-acre site at Barnfield Road. When completed in July 2005, Thamesdown Transport will move out of its Corporation Street premises, releasing that site for re-development as part of The New Swindon Company's regeneration of the town centre.

The new depot will have space for nearly 140 buses.

Mayor Peter Stoddart dug the first piece of soil to level the site in preparation for the new building.

If the New Swindon Company's plans come to fruition, the site will become part of the Exchange, a commercial area next to Fleming Way.