WILTSHIRE Council’s deputy leader, Cllr John Thomson, has been forced to backtrack on his plans to gift the King George V Playing Fields Pavilion to Melksham Youth Group without consulting town councillors or residents.

He was forced to apologise for misleading statements after a meeting with Melksham Mayor Adrienne Westbrook, and town councillors.

The town council has plans to turn the pavilion into a café where parents can sit and watch their children playing in a proposed new splash pool.

She said: “I had a meeting with Cllr Thomson and said they should have involved the town council. It is not a foregone conclusion and I have asked him to retract his announcement.

“The town council will hold discussions with Wiltshire Council and Fields in Trust, who own the playing fields, and Melksham Youth Group but it has to be open, honest engagement.”

Cllr Thomson delivered his bombshell announcement at a Melksham Area Board meeting last Wednesday to discuss ideas on the potential use and layout of the King George V Playing Fields.

One of the reasons why Cllr Thomson made his announcement is a plan to close the town’s Canberra Centre in order to fund part of the Health & Wellbeing development at the Melksham Community Campus.

The Melksham Youth Club meets at the centre and, if it closes, there is nowhere else for them to go. Cllr Thomson hoped to solve the problem by relocating them to the Pavilion.

Cllr Thomson, who is Wiltshire Council’s cabinet member for communications, communities, leisure and libraries, said: “At the area board meeting, I unintentionally gave the impression that there was already an agreement in place and that Young Melksham would be using it – that is not the case.

“I was attempting to explain what the conditions would be if such an agreement was in place but I wasn’t very clear.

“I personally met with the town council earlier this week, including the mayor, to reassure them that no decisions have been finalised in relation to King George V and the pavilion, and they, and other key stakeholders, will be fully involved in the process.”

“As part of the campus programme, Young Melksham may need to relocate and we are in discussion with them regarding possible options. We will ensure the group has a home into the future, and are considering the feasibility of all options, prior to making any final decision.

“With regard to both of these projects, we are working closely with Young Melksham and Melksham Town Council to deliver the best possible outcomes for both organisations and the local community.”

Cllr Martin Pain, who was at the Area Board meeting, said: “What happened was a massive insult to the elected Mayor of Melksham, to Melksham Town Council and to all the citizens of Melksham.

“Cllr Thomson stood up in front of the audience and announced that he had ‘given’ the pavilion in the park to Melksham’s Youth Group without any public consultation, no advance notice, nothing.

“It was a typical Thomson dictate delivered in his normal petty bureaucratic manner which assumes he is the master with whom we must not argue. Well he is wrong, we will argue and the days of our rolling over and letting Wiltshire Council ride roughshod over the needs and wishes of the Melksham community are over.”

Cllr Pain accused Wiltshire Council of being ‘pompous bullies’ and called on Cllr Thomson to leave the people of Melksham to decide the issue.

Cllr Jon Hubbard, the Chair of Melksham Area Board and a Wiltshire Councillor representing Melksham, is also chair of Melksham’s Youth Group.

He failed to respond to a request to reveal whether he knew about Cllr Thomson’s decision before the announcement.

Cllr Pain added: “I am not against our town’s youth having a place of their own, a place where they can commune and enjoy in safety and security, it is our responsibility to provide such a venue but they already have an ideal location at The Canberra which if it were renovated and adapted for the purpose would make a far better and bigger facility than the pavilion in the park.

“Wiltshire Council should bite the bullet and give our youths what they need and at the same time give Melksham families what they need which is the pavilion in King George V Park.”

Cllr Pain is urging residents to email their views to him at martinpain4melksham@gmail.com.