TAXPAYERS will fund Swindon's third park and ride facility to the tune of £1.25m.

Swindon Council is preparing to invest heavily in the bus terminal near the new hospital at Commonhead.

But the move has already proved controversial because neither of the town's two existing park and rides have yet to break even.

It means the initial payment from the council's capital programme for the Commonhead scheme will be followed up by years of subsidy to enable it to continue running. Swindon's first park and ride, The Copse in Cricklade Road, opened in 1998 at a cost of £1.3 million and was heavily criticised for being underused in its first year.

It is now proving more popular, with 200,000 using it last year, but the council still had to subsidise it to the tune of £140,000.

The Wroughton park and ride scheme in Croft Road opened five weeks ago at a cost of £2 million. It is not only sparsely used so far, but has been attacked for causing congestion in Old Town, with new priority traffic lights installed in Devizes Road.

Together, the two schemes are projected to cost £339,000 in subsidies over this financial year.

Swindon's Conservative councillors say the Commonhead scheme should be funded by private enterprise.

The park and ride was originally due to open this year to serve motorists entering the town from junction 15 of the M4, but it fell through when developer Henry Davidson Develop- ments Ltd ended its involvement.

It wanted to build a hotel, petrol station and fast food outlet next to the facility to make it viable, but pulled out in November because it was worried the Planning Inspectorate was likely to veto its plans.

Now the council has resurrected the scheme, it hopes to submit a planning application later this year and open it next year.

Conservative leader Coun Mike Bawden said the running costs of the service, in addition to the two existing schemes, will prove to heavy a burden on the council's revenue budget.

Coun Bawden (Old Town and Lawn) said: "I'm totally in favour of park and rides as long as it is someone else paying for them. The two existing schemes are costing a fortune just to run and now we're talking about building another. This is money that could be spent repairing our schools.

"When is this council going to realise that it is living beyond its means and can't afford everything it wants?"

But council leader Sue Bates (Lab, Gorse Hill and Pinehurst) believes action must be taken now to prevent congestion in the town as it grows.

She said: "There are significant plans for the town's development in the pipeline and we need a robust transport service to be able to cope with the increased traffic."

The council hopes to eventually have a total of six schemes serving the town, at a cost of more than £10 million.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Wendy Johnson (Old Town and Lawn) said: "We have got to address the problem of traffic in our town now and we need as many satellite park and rides around the town as possible."