Trowbridge woman Leanne Coates said she is surprised by the amount of support she has already had, after setting up a petition asking Wiltshire Council to build a bowling alley and ice rink in the town.

The 20-year-old of Paxcroft Mead, Trowbridge, moved to Melksham with her dad and his partner a year ago from Hampshire, before getting her own flat in the Trowbridge.

Miss Coates said that since she has been in the town she has found there to be a limited amount of things for young people to do, especially compared to where she used to live.

She decided to set a petition up on www.change.org asking Wiltshire Council to consider building a bowling alley or ice rink last Sunday and has already had more than 600 signatures in support, despite only posting the petition on her Facebook page and selling pages.

Miss Coates said: “I was just sitting at my dad’s home thinking about how there was not much to do in Trowbridge, so I decided to set up a petition to get support for something new.

“I started off by putting it on my Facebook page and then on the Trowbridge selling pages on Facebook that I’m part of. I was only expecting a few of my friends to sign it - I certainly wasn’t expecting such a great response.

“Looking at the comments there is a lot of support for having these options as it would help get kids off the street and give them something a bit different to do.

“I think it would also help the town’s businesses as it would bring more people to the area as currently you have to travel to Bristol for a decent bowling alley and Swindon for a big ice rink.”

Miss Coates said that a lot of the people supporting her petition said a bowling alley and ice rink would be better than having a second cinema at the former Bowyers factory site, which was approved on appeal in January.

She added: “Lots of people have commented saying a second cinema is unnecessary. I have been in the new cinema a few times and the screenings have never been full, so they should have looked at different options.”