Corsham’s Springfield Campus should open its doors to the public by the end of July, with plans already under way for a programme of activities in the summer.

Local dignitaries were given a behind-the-scenes tour last Friday, where they saw the first phase of the £11million project nearing completion.

Five ‘multi-purpose’ rooms available for hire, a new library, café, exhibition space, climbing wall, office facilities and a base for the town’s police have been built at the Beechfield Road site, alongside the existing community centre and Springfield Leisure Centre.

The second phase of the development, which will include the renovation of the current pool and sport facilities, is due to be completed by the autumn. A new outdoor hockey pitch was also constructed earlier this year, leading to the reforming of the Corsham Hockey Club.

The five community rooms will be available for a range of uses, and include a dance studio with sprung floor, a soundproofed room designed for youth activities, and a large hall, which can be used with a stage or for screening films from a built-in projector.

Corsham will be the first of 18 new campuses in the county, as part of a £70million reorganisation of the council’s facilities.

Allan Bosley, chairman of the campus’s community operations board, has overseen the project.

He said: “As soon as the facilities are signed off there will be people coming in to use them.

“Someone has already expressed an interest in running healthy eating classes from the training kitchen, which will serve the cafeteria and for functions, and there’s been lots of interest from five-a-side teams.

“There is lots more happening inside than you first realise.”

Coun Jane Scott, leader of Wiltshire Council, showed government minister Francis Maude around the site on Friday.

She said: “It’s very exciting, it shows you can have new, modern, much cheaper-to-run buildings at the same time as saving money.”

Mr Maude said: “It makes so much sense to have one place where so many activities can be.

"There will be lessons learned from this.”