HOUSEBUILDER Bellway has handed over land on its Bowood View development at Melksham so that a new £500,000 village hall can be built for the local community.

The developer will hand over the plot at Berryfield to Melksham Without Parish Council and will pay £500,000 in two instalments towards the costs of building the community facility.

Cllr Richard Wood, chairman of Melksham Without Parish Council, said they were "delighted" with the progress.

"We have been talking to the developer for a long time and are all poised to go.

"We have an architect and a project manager in place and are about to go out to tender in January for the building."

Mr Wood says the new village hall will replace an existing temporary building where the Berryfield community has been meeting for the past 15 years.

He added: "They will give us the first tranche of money after 75 homes have been sold and the remainder when the estate is complete.

"We have put this together with some Community Infrastructure Levy cash that we have received and we can just about afford to build a decent sized hall."

Rachel Way, sales manager for Bellway South West, said: “Bowood View demonstrates the wider benefits new developments can bring to communities.

“As well as the investment in a new village hall, Bellway is providing affordable homes for local people, contributing more than £700,000 to secondary education and a further £45,000 for public art.

“New homes must be accompanied by infrastructure to support the new residents and this will certainly be the case here.”

She added: “Bowood View has proven popular with people from Melksham and surrounding villages, who are looking to secure a new home in this thriving area of Wiltshire."

“Even through a difficult time for the property market, we continued to receive enquiries from people who were looking to move.

“It is a positive sign for the local economy that people are keen to remain in the area.”

“As soon as we were able to reopen the development, appointments were quickly taken up. Changes to stamp duty have also generated an increase in people committing to a move.”

Strict safety measures have been adopted and people can visit the showhome by appointment.

The company has sold more than half of the 150 new homes at the Semington Road development in Berryfield.

More than 40 homes have been handed over to their owners so far and many more have been reserved off-plan.

Bellway has made video tours of various house types available on its website page for Bowood View so people can familiarise themselves with the homes before their appointment.