THIS town has a justifiable reputation for being generous. People who are in need have nearly always found help and a welcome here.

But our civic open-handedness is in danger of being stretched beyond its capacity by proposals to house a total of up to 900 asylum seekers here. Officially we already have 165.

Coun Mavis Childs (Lab, Walcot), lead member for housing, is right to urge the Home Office not to send them to Swindon. Our beleaguered local authority simply does not have the resources to provide for them adequately.

It is all very well for Coun Jim D'Avila (Lab, Moredon) to say Swindon has a moral duty to look after asylum seekers along with other parts of the country. He is skating around the fact that other parts of the country are not all struggling to cope with the results of massive failures within their education and social services departments.

Imposing on them the problems which asylum seekers cannot help bringing with them could well be a recipe for disaster. As Tory leader Coun Mike Bawden (Old Town) said today, we already have enough problems.

If the Home Office wants Swindon to absorb 900 people it must put up the money.