THE HEAD of Swindon's library service knows a thing or two about false dawns.

David Allen has been with the department for 20 years and witnessed half a dozen central library projects fail to get off the ground.

But this time he is convinced the new facility will go ahead.

He said: "In all the time I have been in Swindon, none of the councils responsible for libraries have voted money for a new central library.

"This one has and it is a very significant move and a very significant step towards that new building."

Over the years, the temporary huts in Regent Circus, which house Swindon's main library, have been a source of embarrassment to many in the town.

And they have been used as evidence to back the often-repeated slur that Swindon is a cultural desert.

According to Mr Allen, a new library could bury that allegation once and for all.

He said: "It will enable the town to hold its head up and hopefully it will be a building that people in the town can be proud of.

"A library gives people the opportunity for learning and to get involved.

"What's missing from many people's lives is the ability to get in touch with other people and feel part of things.

"That's something I'd really like to see this library achieve."

Many big industrial towns got their first municipal lending libraries in the mid 19th century, but Swindon did not get its until 1949.

Up until that time, town leaders had felt that the large lending library provided by the Great Western Railway at the Mechanics' Institute did the job.

A levy on the rates resulted in a public lending library being set up inside McIlroy's department store in the town centre in 1943.

Then, in 1949, the Central Library was opened in Regent Circus.

Like many buildings constructed in the austere post-war years, the first library was a collection of prefabricated huts.

It is unlikely that townspeople of the day expected those temporary structures to still be in place more than 50 years later.

The first prefabs were replaced with newer ones in 1976, but since then there have been no further improvements to the building.

Council lead member for libraries David Cox (Lab, Toothill and Westlea) is determined to ensure that this time the promised library is delivered.

He said: "Since I first came to the town I have heard plans for a new library but the money hasn't been there.

"It's our intention, as long as we are the administration, to establish a new central library.

"In a forward-looking town like ours, with the development of the Brunel Centre which is going ahead, a brand-new central library and all that holds will fit in very nicely."

Council leader Kevin Small (Lab, Western) said: "The difference is that this time the money is there. We have provided the money."

The new central library is expected to be three times the size of the current one and will be located somewhere in the Regent Circus area.

As well as lending services it may house tourist information, a new centre for adult learning and a public exhibition space.

It is to be paid for out of £16 million of borrowing which was approved last month by Swindon Council.

The cost to taxpayers of servicing that debt will be £500,000 a year.

Last year Cricklade got a new library when the Ockwell's glove factory site was refurbished at a cost of £80,000. The former library was housed in a temporary building. And the multi-million pound Millennium Library in Calne was acclaimed as an attractive new town centre landmark when it opened in 2001.