DESPITE being short of £5m to fund Melksham’s new campus, Laurie Bell from Wiltshire Council has promised it will still go ahead and funding will not be cut.

Speaking at Melksham Area Board last Wednesday Ms Bell, associate director for communications and communities, said she wanted to dismiss fears that the town is in danger of not getting a campus after building work has been delayed by a year.

“Without a doubt there is going to be a campus in Melksham,” Ms Bell said, “It will also be delivered to its approved budget.

“We are talking in and around £5m that we need to find but we are not taking money off what was the approved budget. There is no cut in your funding whatsoever.”

According to Ms Bell the extra cost is a result of design aspects that are going to be reviewed and confusion over whether funding for the campus access was supposed to be in the highways budget or campus budget.

The council are also waiting for external funding and contracts to be confirmed, including for a GP at the front of the campus. However the space allocated for the GP is 1,000sq metres and the NHS only want a third of the space.

Wiltshire Council and Melksham Shadow Community Operations Board will be examining what services the campus needs and how the money can be found.

The campus is not expected to open now until late 2017, but when opened it is planned to be the biggest campus in the county and will host a range of facilities including a gym, swimming pool, cricket pitch, library and hall.

Last month councillor John Thomson took over from councillor Jonathon Seed as Wiltshire Council cabinet member responsible for campuses.

At the Melksham Area Board Cllr Seed said: “He [Cllr Thomson] is absolutely committed and has briefed the cabinet who ultimately make the decisions on the finance.

“This is something for Melksham which we have been waiting for for generations.”