HOPES that Wiltshire Council would create 19 campuses countywide have been dashed after Tuesday’s cabinet meeting confirmed just seven will now go ahead.

Campuses will be completed in Melksham, Calne, Cricklade, Pewsey and Royal Wootton Bassett, joining opened schemes in Corsham and Tisbury, but plans for Westbury, Warminster and Chippenham will now not go ahead.

In Trowbridge, the council has received £700,000 from the government towards its plans to build a new health centre, leisure facility, shops and restaurants on the site of the former East Wing opposite County Hall.

Wiltshire’s Liberal Democrats fiercely criticised the decision not to build more campuses. Lib Dem Cllr Gordon King said: “Despite Westbury being the area with the largest consultation returns on the campus programme, the town has been completely ignored by Wiltshire Council and feels completely let down by the entire process. Westbury records one of the most deprived areas in Wiltshire, it is the community with most need according to the council’s own joint strategic needs assessment.

“But despite this has not seen a penny of funding from the Wiltshire Council’s flagship campus programme, though it is a town in desperate need of improved leisure provisions. In a Wiltshire where ‘everyone matters’ it seems that some communities matter more than others.”

Cllr Peter Fuller added: “Wiltshire Council are changing the focus because of the exorbitant costs. One of its first proposals was to have a campus in each area. It is good the Trowbridge one is moving forward but this is a real shame.”

Cllr John Thomson, the cabinet member for campuses, said: “We have invested £45m to date and we signed off another £23m this week to push through the campuses. We have not gone back on any promises. We are delivering something that is almost unique across the country. This is just the Liberal Democrats playing party politics.”