PLANS to replace Swindon's central library have again been stalled.

Swindon Council had wanted to remove the temporary building that has served people in the town for 27 years.

It also planned to create a new art gallery, museum and improved theatre in the town centre.

But today it was revealed that despite winning Government backing to the tune of £4 million for the scheme, Swindon Council has now been forced to go back to the drawing board.

It says it has discovered that it would not be able to raise enough money to top up the private finance initiative cash in order to fund the £100 million project.

That means the expensive and time-consuming process of bidding for the money has been wasted and the council will have to bid again if it wants Government backing in future.

It also means the library in Regent Circus is no nearer to being replaced by a permanent building.

The council knew when it started drawing up its bid 11 months ago that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport only had £30 million worth of PFI 'credits' to hand out around the country.

So it was unlikely to receive any more than £4 million from the bid and was one of only a handful of schemes to be successful in winning any backing at all.

Yet the council now claims it has been advised by its consultants, Bristol-based Bevan Ashford, that progressing with the current scheme would not work out.

By winning permission for the £4 million PFI the council was given permission to seek a private partner who would provide the funding and then arrange for the money to be repaid through a long term leasing arrangement.

Finance director Ian Thompson said: "The £4 million really didn't go a long way for the scheme we had in mind and we found we could not make the numbers add up.

"The scheme we had been promoting included office, retail and residential units that would fund the project through the land sales.

"But we have now been told it would be difficult, with other similar schemes happening at Plaza 21 and the Swindon College site, to pull that scheme together. Our advisers are worried it would be a case of more of the same."

Bevan Ashford was appointed last November at a cost of around £100,000 to put together the council's business case for the project.

The plans had involved replacing the existing central library described three years ago by consultants as "the worst central library in the country for a town of its size" with a new library, art gallery and museum in Theatre Square.

The Town Hall was to be extended to create a new community arts facility and the Wyvern Theatre was to be refurbished and extended.

Mr Thompson said officers are now drawing up options, including building a free-standing library, integrating it as part of Westfield's plans to expand the Brunel Centre, or even occupying the dilapidated Mechanics' Institute in Emlyn Square. None of these would be achievable in the short-term.

A private meeting is being held on Friday between councillors and officers to discuss the way forward.

If the council chooses to put in a bid for more PFI credits, it will have to submit it before Christmas, but Mr Thompson admitted it is unlikely to win any more than £4 million.