AT LEAST £1 million-worth of investment could be secured within days to salvage Swindon’s wi-fi project.

That was the view of the council’s deputy leader, Garry Perkins, who was challenged over the project by rival councillors during a meeting of the scrutiny panel on Monday night.

Coun Perkins (Con, Shaw and Nine Elms) said a deal could be signed within a couple of days, which would involve a mystery investor putting a seven-figure sum into the project.

He later said he could not be tied down to any particular date.

Some other councillors remained sceptical about whether a deal could be close.

Speaking after the meeting, Coun Perkins said: “There’s a contract on the table.

“The company that was looking to invest has gone through the whole process and come up with a deal offering substantial investment.

“We still have discussions. There is a contract available for us to accept or not.”

He would not reveal the identity of the company, but would only say it was one of “the major telecoms companies in the world.”

Coun Perkins suggested as long ago as February that a deal was imminent, but no contract has so far been signed.

He said: “It’s just the details they’re going through now. I need to talk to their people about one or two details.

“There could be an announcement this week, but it could still run over into next week. There are still some details to be sorted out, legal details and other things. It’s not going to be a huge length of time.”

Although he pledged a £400,000 outstanding loan, which troubled wi-fi firm Digital City owes the council, would be repaid with interest, he could not say if it would happen as soon as the deal was signed.

Coun Perkins said the council would remain a shareholder and it never accepted ex-director Rikki Hunt’s stake in the company. Instead, those shares have been held in suspension.

Coun Des Moffatt (Lab, Western) said: “In the early stages of Garry saying a deal is imminent, I was a little excited, looking forward to what was proposed. Now I’m fed up with it.

“My gut feeling is nothing is going to happen in the next few days.”

Labour’s Chris Watts, an IT businessman and long-time wi-fi critic, said it could take time to hammer out the final details.

He said: “Dealing with large corporates in this way, it was never going to be sorted out in a couple of months. It never happens that quickly.”