THE National Trust have confirmed that they did not carry out “a formal study” into the acquisition of Lydiard Park when the council was seeking to offload the heritage asset in 2015.

It follows a recent public meeting held at Lydiard Park Academy in which the long term future of Lydiard Park and House was discussed by concerned residents and interested parties.

During the hour reserved for public questions, one gentleman asked why the council had not given the ‘Jewel in Swindon’s Crown’ to the National Trust to ensure its long term future and to avoid it becoming a “political football”.

It was suggested that the reason Swindon Borough Council had not been able to hand Lydiard to the Trust was because the latter had asked for a vast sum of money as a down payment.

One member of the panel, David Barnard, of the Love Lydiard Trust, said the National Trust had asked for “many millions of pounds”. One figure thrown around the hall was £16m.

But the National Trust have dismissed the £16m figure – or, indeed, any figure, saying discussions with the council did take place but did not progress to the stage where a cash sum was presented.

Ian Wilson, the National Trust’s assistant director of operations, said: “The National Trust did share some advice with Swindon Borough Council two years ago and with the groups bidding to take on Lydiard Park. It is quite common for us to share our experience and expertise with other heritage and conservation charities.

“But we did not carry out any formal study into an acquisition which would have given us costs for taking on the property. If any figures were given, they would have been rough estimates only.”

The long term sustainability of the much-loved house and park was recently thrown into question when, in February, a deal collapsed between the council and the Lydiard Heritage Trust which would have seen the latter take over the running of Lydiard.

Mr Wilson added: “Because, as a conservation charity, we depend on the support of our five million members to care for the places we look after already, any new acquisition or long lease would need to be financially self-supporting.

“That can involve an endowment fund which is invested to produce an income to pay for maintenance, or continued support towards maintenance costs during the lease.”