THE restoration of Lydiard Park hangs in the balance after Swindon Council's decision-making cabinet decided to defer its decision on whether to pull out of the project altogether.

The u-turn comes after an 11th-hour meeting between councillors, members of the Swindon business community, English Heritage, the Countryside Agency and Innogy, ahead of last night's cabinet meeting.

The meeting was described as heated but fruitful and comes a day after council leader Mike Bawden said he would pull the plug on a commitment that is likely to cost the council an initial £500,000 and at least £25,000-a-year for five years.

Coun Bawden initially said the authority had more pressing needs than the restoration of Lydiard Park, but yesterday said: "It's true that we have been discussing whether, given all other calls like schools and Social Services on our finances, Swindon Council can go ahead with plans to restore Lydiard Park for the benefit of Swindon's community.

"Before taking the decision at cabinet we held further discussions during the day with our partners that proved very fruitful therefore we have decided to defer the decision until September.

"We intend to find a way forward that will enable us to continue with the plans. However, we don't have a bottomless pit of money, so I have to oversee a very difficult balancing act between looking after our heritage, but also delivering the services our schoolchildren and vulnerable people need."

It had been feared that the withdrawal of council support for the project, which includes restoring features like the 18th-century vegetable garden and lake, the banks of which collapsed in 1911, would mean the project would fall completely for the sixth time.

The bid to restore the Georgian country house and gardens in West Swindon was started last year when Swindon-based Innogy (formerly National Power) gave £70,000 towards a feasibility study into the £5.5 million project.

The council had also intended to apply for a £3.8 million Heritage Lottery Grant.

But the last thing they want is for the project to turn into another Steam Museum, as Coun Bawden said yesterday.

The decision to defer the matter until later in the year was welcomed by the Liberal Democrats.

Chris Shepherd (Lib Dem, Freshbrook and Grange Park) said: "I'm glad the council still supports the Lydiard Park restoration project. The people of Freshbrook and Grange Park support the restoration and enhancement proposals as do thousands of other Swindon residents and the business community who have shown great enthusiasm in collaborating with the borough to date. I sincerely hope the council will find some way forward on supporting the lottery bid. I want the cabinet to be brave and bold and to breathe life into our cultural heritage."

But with £52 million worth of repairs still outstanding at schools across the borough and the council's education and social services departments struggling for cash, some councillors argue that the authority's priorities lie elsewhere.

'There was never a dormant account'

IAN Thompson, Swindon Council's outgoing director of resources, returned to the council chamber last night to talk the cabinet through the authority's statement of accounts.

But he quickly poured cold water on the story of the alleged missing £2.5 million that made national headlines this week, saying that there never was an undisclosed account.

He said: "I'd like to put the record straight there is no undisclosed bank account and as far as I'm concerned there's no factual basis for this story whatsover. I don't know where it's come from.

"There are hundreds of accounts, that's the way businesses operate, but the council doesn't open bank accounts and then just forget about them.

"The first I heard of the story was when I read the Advertiser, but there is no evidence that the money was stashed away somewhere for 20-years.

"A missing bank account implies impropriety and failure on behalf of the borough's financial officers and that is certainly not true.

"I just can't get to the bottom of this," Mr Thompson said.

The Advertiser revealed on Monday that the money was discovered by a task group set up to scrutinise the borough's accounts after David Renard (Con, Haydon Wick) said the Budget Strategy Task Group, of which he is chairman, had discovered £2.5 million in a dormant account in the borough's housing department.