THE Christie Miller sports centre in Melksham is to close on Friday, October 19 following a recent inspection by Wiltshire Council.

The centre in Lancaster Way, Bowerhill, occupies an old wartime aircraft hangar built in 1943 and operates a gymnasium, a main sports hall, squash courts and ten pin bowling.

The 29 staff were informed of the closure plans on Wednesday. It is planned to redeploy them to other nearby centres.

The closure will leave Melksham with no sports hall provision until new facilities are built by 2021 as part of the £23 million community campus.

Wiltshire Council who own the building - confirmed that significant investment of up to £1 million would be needed to keep the building open and operating safely for customers and staff.

Cllr John Thomson, Wiltshire Council’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for campuses, told the Melksham Area Board meeting that an immediate investment of £350,000 would be required to keep it open and operating safely.

“The cost to maintain the centre and the risks associated to ensure that it is fit for purpose for public use has led to this difficult decision to close the centre prior to the new one being available.

“The cost to continue with this centre is prohibitive and any investment would have a detrimental impact on the new centre and its facilities as the cost would have to be met from the budget allocated for the new campus.

“While we recognise that this will be inconvenient to users, we are making every effort with Places for People, who run this facility on our behalf, to look at alternative provision in other nearby centres.”

It is planned to redeploy staff to other People and Places leisure centres in Melksham, Bradford on Avon, Chippenham and Trowbridge.

The council will talk to the groups that use the centre to see if alternative provision can be made elsewhere.

Memberships will be transferred to Melksham Blue Pooland adult premium members can also use facilities at any Wiltshire Council sites.

But residents were told there would be at least a two-year gap in the provision of sports facilities while the £15.2 million next phase of the community campus facilities is built.

Work on these Health and Wellbeing facilities is due to begin in autumn 2019 with completion due in early 2021.

They will include a new atrium and café, a six-lane 25-metre swimming pool and learner pool, wet and dry changing facilities, a six-court sports hall, a fitness suite with 75 stations, fitness studio, library, offices for Melksham Without Parish Council, a small meeting room, multi-use games area, four tennis courts and a new GP surgery, as well as parking for 229 vehicles.

Some sheltered housing is likely to be built on the campus close to the Grade 2 listed Melksham House.

Cllr Thomson said it was “not viable” to sell the nearby Canberra Centre, and the council was working with Young Melksham to extend their lease of the Youth Centre.

He said the Christie Miller centre contains asbestos and water leaking through the roof was affecting the electrical system.

“We have kept that building functioning for as long as possible but it is now too dangerous to keep it open,” he said.

To provide alternative fitness studio and sports provision elsewhere in Melksham would cost £300,000 and would eat into the remaining campus budget, he said. “This project has to be delivered on budget.”

Up to £150,000 of the £15.2m has been ring-fenced to help the Melksham Indoor Bowls Club to find new premises.

People and Places also runs facilities at Melksham Blue Pool, the Olympiad Leisure Centre in Chippenham, Bradford on Avon Swimming Pool, and Castle Place Leisure Centre in Trowbridge.

In recent years, Melksham has benefited from a £8.4m investment that includes a popular skate park, a new state-of-the-art football and rugby stadium at Oakfields, a new replacement cricket pavilion, and a refurbished and improved Market Place.