MELKSHAM Cricket Club is celebrating after getting planning permission to build a new pavilion.

The previous pavilion was destroyed in a fire in June 2016 and since then the club has been campaigning to build a new facility on the footprint of the old site, behind Melksham House in the Market Place.

The new clubhouse will have two 16-place changing rooms as well as a shower area, two unisex toilets and an accessible facility, a small kitchen and bar area, a club room with enough space for 24 players and a central plant room.

Debbie Burns, fundraiser for Melksham Cricket Club, said: "The pavilion was given the green light by planners last week.

"The club and Wiltshire Council will now begin the process of inviting tenders and the plan is to start building work in late spring.

"The new pavilion should be complete by mid-late summer 2017."

The first pavilion was destroyed during a seven-hour blaze on June 5 last year. Crews battled the fire, which was spotted by members of the bowls club, late into the evening. Damage, including replacing kit, set the club back £6,000.

Gary Burns, club chairman, said “We have had a challenging year but we look forward to an exciting future. We hope the new facilities will attract more players.”

The club is running fundraising events to help pay for the new clubhouse. There will be a quiz night on Friday, March 3 in the Sky Bar at Oakfields, Melksham Town FC's new home. The quiz starts at 7.30pm, and entry costs £10 for teams of four. Contact the club to register a team. The club is also running a Gnome Trail around the town until March 14. More than 50 businesses are taking part and all the money raised will go towards replacing lost kit.

The club’s adult indoor training sessions will be taking place on Mondays from March 6 at Melksham Oak School, from 8pm to 9pm.