IT is hard to argue against the worth of park and ride facilities.

They take traffic away from town centres by offering commuters, shoppers and tourists the chance to leave their cars on the edge of town and take a bus journey to their destination.

Swindon Council has a vision to bring six facilities to the town.

It currently has two, one of which has become popular, the other which is hardly used but has only been running for a matter of weeks.

Both facilities remain a financial burden and will cost the council around £340,000 in subsidies over the financial year.

So it is hardly prudent to announce plans to spend £1.25m of its reserves setting up another facility at Commonhead. Time will tell whether this shows brilliant foresight or is an inexplicable decision to put green principals before financial constraints.

Either way, the council's Labour and Liberal Democrat group is taking an enormous political risk when the door to finding private finance remains ajar at the very least.

We support the need for a park and ride facility at Commonhead. But we do not want it at any cost.

The politicians who run this town must show that they have looked at every avenue for funding, and ultimately they must justify their decision to the people. to whom they owe their position.