Swindon Council's idea to close 800 car parking spaces in the town and replace them with four new park and ride schemes is an excellent one . . . with certain provisos.

If the council can guarantee that all the park and ride areas are secure; that buses arrive every five minutes to take commuters to all parts of the town centre and that this service will run from between 6am and 8pm at a cost of 50p a ride, the public will back it.

If they can't, the public will quite rightly say 'No thank you'. And who could blame them?

This plan is ambitious, daring even, but you could be forgiven for doubting that Swindon Council has the ability to carry it through, even though it has eight years to make it work.

To get support for a project like this, the public has to have confidence in its local authority.

The people of Swindon don't have that confidence in their council at the moment.