CARE FEATURE: The Swindon Council housing and social services department budget for the last financial year was £31.2 million, but it has gone over that figure by £738,000 - almost entirely because of the increasing number of children in care.

Part of the reason for this overspend is the borough's limited childcare provision.

It has no specialist care home for children who are unsuitable for fostering, and there is only a limited number of foster families in the borough.

This means children often have to be found accommodation in care homes or with foster families outside the borough.

The cost of placing a child in a care home outside Swin-don is about £3,000 a week, while the cost of using a private fostering company outside the borough is around £750 a week. This compares with around £220 a week to a keep a child with a local foster family.

The cost per child of running the two new childcare units proposed for Swindon has been estimated at £1,600-£1,800 a week.

The borough's former childcare facility at 103 Bath Road, which closed in September, cost £2,000 per child per week, so in the long run the two new units should save the council money.

The council has not yet revealed how much they will cost to build.