Just when you imagine you have heard everything that could be said about Swindon council, yet another story of inept management is revealed.

Only a few short weeks ago we were advised that the council's personnel records were so poor that officers were unable to determine time and attendance records for its employees.

Some months ago a considerable sum of money was "found" in a bank account which had been forgotten which speaks volumes about internal audit controls if any existed.

Then (EA Jan 5) we have the spectacle of the council leader confirming what many people had long suspected the council fails to conduct any formal value for money purchasing guidelines for capital expenditure or service costs.

Proof if needed that it's not a shortage of money which besets the council, simply a lack of control in spending what they have.

For years folk like Frank Avenell have been telling your readers that Swindon council is a byword for inefficiency and ineffectiveness. External auditors have castigated the council for its abject lack of any management skill and its capacity to ignore self induced trauma.

The council promised that Social Services and Education would be better run from Swindon than Trowbridge. In their haste they allowed themselves to forget a simple business principle: Don't play all your cards up front. As a result local councillors allowed the "country boys" to well and truly stuff them in pension negotiations, leaving an enormous black hole which was only partially filled from the sale proceeds of the Brunel Centre.

This latest revelation confirms that senior officers and councillors are incapable of running a sweet shop.

Des Morgan

Swindon