THE departure of Swindon Chief executive Paul Doherty and the scandal of our education and social services departments highlights just how much our local authority has deluded itself and others with talk of grand schemes to regenerate the town.

Six years on and our central library is still a tatty shack, the Mechanics Institute and the Locarno are still crumbling to dust and the council's ambitious 30-year vision is looking distinctly blurred.

Plans to create an integrated transport exchange in the town centre, build a light tram network, regenerate Old Town and build a major new concert venue are both laudable and desirable.

Sadly, they are also a load of hot air. After all, if they cannot provide decent basic services, how on earth can our local authority deliver what Mr Doherty described as a "state of the art, world class European city"?

Which brings us to the city thing. This newspaper actively supported the campaign, launched in 1998, to make Swindon a city, partly to stimulate a debate about the future of the town and partly because, on the basis of what the council boasted it could do, it was an achievable goal.

Well it isn't and that is heartbreaking. Some of the schemes put forward would have added real quality to people's lives. Now the fear is we may never see any of them.

Whether we do or not, the issue of city status is off the agenda and this newspaper will not support any future bid until our inert councillors have got the basics right.

For their information, that involves the restoration of quality local services and our criminally neglected heritage, instead of a load of old twaddle about trams.