NO ONE should be surprised that the Conservative administration of SBC is considering the disposal of Lydiard House and Park (SA, September 19), and in simple commercial terms the idea has merit.

After all why should the council subsidise the house to the tune of £450k a year?

However, if logic is to be applied it follows that Swindon’s Steam Museum, which is subsidised to the tune of £200k per annum, should also be ‘disposed of’.

After all, Broome Manor Golf was given to Twigmarket and that facility was actually making money for the council.

Coun Perkins is not prepared to offer any guarantee with regard to access to the park.

Even if he did I would take such an assurance with a pinch of salt.

After all, Coun Perkins is the man who assured the people of Swindon the £400k given to the company of which he was a director would be repaid with 20 per cent interest.

It hasn’t been repaid and never ever will be.

He is also behind a scheme to pay a private company £900k of council tax to provide the means for a minority of private homes in the town to access broadband but only if an internet service provider is prepared to use the UKB Network facility.

In a report two weeks ago, the leader of the council said plans to build a new museum and art gallery were on hold while officers revised their bid.

In particular they would reappraise the sustainability model, which is shorthand for ‘can it survive?’ In a letter dated January 2015, Coun Renard advised me that the planned museum and art gallery would be subsidised but he hoped it would not be in excess of the current subsidy.

I find that hope to be somewhat unlikely and referred Coun Renard to a report from the Museums’ Association which stated more than 52 per cent of museums experienced falling income in 2013/14.

Despite this, the administration still feels its development will buck the trend and have committed £5m to its future.

I am sure officers have considered using Lydiard House and the conference centre as a home for the town’s artworks and museum, and if not, perhaps they should.

After all one of the town’s greatest visionaries, David Murray John, considered the Lydiard site to be the ideal home for a Swindon University.

DES MORGAN Caraway Drive, Swindon