Will ski-ers and snowboarders really travel from Stoke-on-Trent to use the indoor snow centre to be built at North Star in Swindon?

That was the question posed to leader of Swindon Borough Council David Renard and fellow Conservative cabinet members by Labour councillor Jane Milner Barry at the council's scrutiny committee meeting.

The councillor was questioning the claims made by Seven Capital, who will build the centre, that it would attract visitors to Swindon form as far away as Stoke, 122miles away.

She said: "Stoke is between the indoor ski slopes at Tamworth and Manchester, will people really want to come all the way to Swindon?"

Coun Des Moffat said: "That claim should be taken as Seven Capital's sales pitch and nothing more."

But Coun Oliver Donachie, the cabinet member for economic prosperity said: "It's a fact that these sort of regional facilities do attract people from a long way away."

Coun Renard added: "I hope that a lot of people from Swindon will also go along - not least to the largest Imax cinema in the country - and I hope a lot of the people visiting from elsewhere come by public transport."