We all know that when the whole borough stands united behind a cause, we can be a powerful voice for the community. In the past, that has been the case with Lydiard Park and House.

In 2003, even when the council was struggling to emerge from its ranking as one of the 12 worst local authorities in England, there was cross-party support for the bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund that secured £3,433,500 for Lydiard Park.

With that money, we have been able to make the park one of the borough’s most-loved and well-used open spaces.

Sadly, there are those who no longer want to continue this collaborative approach. A few are even willing to make the future of the park and house a political football.

I think it is important to set out some facts. The future of the park and house are secure as council-owned facilities. The council has put money into repairing the house over the past decade, and it will continue to do so in the future.

Under Coun Keith Williams, we are working with the Friends of Lydiard, the Lydiard Heritage Trust and all other stakeholders who want to see Lydiard thrive.

Over the next few months as the weather improves, you will see a number of improvements to the park itself, with refurbished footpaths and renovating the windows to name but a few.

We are also looking at how to make sure the venue remains used for weddings as well as how to make best use of the current bed and breakfast accommodation block.

If all we wanted to do was keep the house and park as they are, that might be enough. However, that does not state fully our ambition for this historical treasure.

We want to restore more of the house and park so that residents and visitors can truly enjoy all they have to offer. However, the council will have not have as much money to spend as it would like.

Also, we want to protect Lydiard and make its future sustainable.

With nearly 80% of the council’s budget now being spent on social care services for adults and children, we need to make sure that Lydiard is safeguarded.

Unlike other local authorities, there are no leisure centre closures in Swindon because we transferred them to the not-for-profit GLL a few years ago.

We are not closing small community libraries, because we have worked in partnership with parishes to ensure they all remain open.

As a town, we can choose to rally together to give Lydiard House and Park a sustainable future and I hope you will all join me in doing this.