Swindon BC is ‘facing a burning financial platform' this year with cost pressures of around £9m but ‘tangible mitigating actions' not fully identified, according to an official peer challenge.

The report by a Local Government Association (LGA) corporate peer challenge team said some of the authority's officers and members still had an ‘over optimism bias' about the pressures and ‘without targeted action' the ‘crisis' could prove ‘existential'.