DESPITE a £5.5m shortfall and increasing rumours over cuts to facilities, Wiltshire Council has promised Melksham it will have the community campus it wants and needs.

According to John Thomson, who took over as cabinet member for campuses in March, Melksham will get the community campus as planned – but on a budget of £16m.

Cllr Thomson said he hopes to deliver all the priorities identified by the town’s Community Operations Board (COB) which detail the findings of a public consultation.

It aimed to find out what the people of Melksham would like to see at the campus which included a fitness suite, an aerobics studio, an indoor bowls hall and community spaces.

There had recently been rumours circulating regarding whether the indoors bowls club would be scrapped in the campus plans in a bid to save money – a rumour which Cllr Thomson squashed.

Cllr Thomson said: “I am not reducing the budget. What I am trying to do is get the program to live within the budget that is available.

“I want to deal with the area boards on the campuses and I am very much looking to that. We have all the information of what the communities would like to achieve, what we have to look at now is how to deliver them with the money we have.

“It has been a bit difficult to get to the bottom of stuff and that is another thing I hope to change.”

He added that contrary to rumours about budget cuts, the campus program remains dedicated to providing facilities for residents and no decision has been made to remove a project from the campus – including the bowls club which they are looking into making a multipurpose space.

The campus in Melksham is set to be home to the biggest campus out of all the towns selected for the project which Wiltshire Council is investing nearly £80m towards.

Cllr Thomson said: “The building that was designed is a fantastic looking building but when you have buildings with big curves and shapes they can be very expensive and I think we need to deliver the facilities rather than going after an architectural award in design.

“I’ve realised the pot, what pays for the fire and police and us is really the same pot. It is the money we have in Wiltshire to spend and if we are saving money for police by sharing resources that means they can keep more officers on the beat and more crews at fire stations.”

As part of the plans, the football and rugby club will move to Woolmore Farm where development work has already started. They are due to permanently move to the new site next summer.

Cllr Thomson also revealed that the campus would also see the demolition of the Blue Pool to make way for a new six lane 25m swimming pool be built on the site.

The campus could also see the re-provisioning of the Assembly Hall to be included in plans to fully utilise the space on offer.

Cllr Jon Hubbard, who represents Melksham south, was in agreement with Cllr Thomson over how, despite Wiltshire Council’s financial challenges, they remain optimistic that the campus will be delivered for the needs of Melksham.

He added: “Obviously the Melksham campus has been a very long ongoing project and originally the town council had hoped it would be up and running before now.

“We have had some challenges along the way but the good news is that progress is now happening.”

Cllr Hubbard believes that all council services should be located in one space and at the new campus, there will be one reception where people can report on both town and county matters.

Both councillors also paid thanks to the COB who have had 57 meetings over the last four years to discuss what the town needs, raking up a total of only £1,882 in officer time.

This has been included on the £28,824 which has already been spent on developing the Melksham campus.

Cllr Thomson added that he will also be establishing a project board which will combine Wiltshire councillors and town council representatives to work closely with the COB, campus team and area board to move forward with plans.

Work is expected to begin later this year on building the campus at Melksham House, off the Market Place, and it is hoped to be ready by the end of 2017.

The campus will be discussed in detail at the next Melksham area board meeting on September 9 in the Assembly Hall at 7pm.