Centre plan steps closer in Melksham (From Wiltshire Times)

Centre plan steps closer in Melksham

6:00pm Friday 27th January 2012 in News

A NEW community centre in Melksham Forest could be up and running by the summer.

The Forest Community Centre committee has been working to set up the centre off Awdry Avenue for years.

Originally the group had wanted to raise around £300,000 for a permanent building, but after fundraising difficulties has decided to buy a pre-fabricated modular building measuring 30m by 9.6m.

Group chairman Vic Oakman said: “We sat down, had a meeting and came to the conclusion that the funding just isn’t there at the moment.

“We spoke to the other funders and they agreed, so we started looking at modular buildings. We saw some we were very interested in and they agreed to go down that road.”

The committee has bought the £30,000 building and submitted a planning application this week.

The plan is to have the building in place by the end of March, and then spend about a month to six weeks making alterations to the interior so it will include changing rooms, toilets, a kitchen, bar, skittle alley, small office and meeting rooms.

Mr Oakman added: “It will have everything we wanted and these buildings can last 25 years if they are treated right. I’m most certainly looking forward to it, its been years and years of work and finally, fingers crossed, it’s coming to fruition.”

The group is looking for a spare shipping container for storage at the site.

If anyone is able to help, or would like to get involved, call Mr Oakman on 01225 705378.