I MAKE no apology for returning this week to the subject of the best ways to get business investment in Swindon.

Some people may look to a mythical past and expect state intervention to fix everything.

It’s a view that is spectacularly contradicted by the facts.

The truth is that our local economy was, and is, based on the wealth-creating private sector. Of all the major towns and cities in the country, Swindon has one of the lowest numbers of employees in the public sector relative to those in private employment.

That is the way it should be if we are to continue to make this area a success.

It also means the council must play its role in attracting new, and retaining existing, businesses.

Of course, the local authority and our public sector partners have a vital role in many areas, but it is a question of balance, and the overwhelming focus of our work must be to let entrepreneurs thrive.

However, we have to accept an element of risk if we are doing something new.

There are some, and you can find them often in the letters column of this newspaper, who don’t think it is right for the council to use taxpayers’ money for anything innovative or different.

This is also flawed thinking that denies our own heritage. For example, a bright 27-year old engineer once proposed an unprecedented scheme.

I wonder if today some people in the town would have said no to his plans?

After all, that engineer could not point to an example of a previous scheme of exactly the same nature that he had completed.

That same project went over the original budget.

I wonder if there would have been endless letters in the media, or questions at council meetings, calling for an investigation of that company’s finances? Fortunately, for Swindon, our forebears had the courage to support the Great Western Railway and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, pictured, without which this town would probably not exist.

For me, the key lesson from our past is that only through new, small and medium enterprises and visionaries can we create the wealth, jobs, and success on which our future depends.

As a council, it means we should negotiate firmly, and fairly, but with a view to saying “yes”.

It means that we need to have the courage to do things differently in the future, because that which served us well in the past may now be inadequate.