Trowbridge Town Council has plans to transform the Civic Hall into an all new Civic Centre. Here, we consider here why the town is making a contribution to Transforming Trowbridge.

A priority for Trowbridge is town centre regeneration, delivered via Transforming Trowbridge, a partnership of councils, businesses and developers.

The Civic Hall, part of the Town Council since 2001, has provided an entertainment and conference venue for more than 30 years and is the largest facility of its kind in the area.

The current venue suffers from high maintenance and energy costs and therefore requires redevelopment.

The Civic Centre project will be the town’s own contribution to Transforming Trowbridge, adding to developments at Bythesea Road, the Brewery and, in future, a new cinema.

In 2005 the Town Council considered the need to invest in civic buildings to provide facilities for a population catchment of more than 50,000 and growth of 300 homes per year.

No significant funds had been set aside for investment, but in 2006 a Civic Buildings Capital Fund of £375,000 was raised, via the Council Tax. In March 2008, to coincide with becoming a Quality Council, the council adopted a strategy, including a commitment to ‘develop a new Civic Centre to incorporate other services such as the Council Offices and the TIC, either on a new site in partnership with developers, or by extensive redevelopment on the existing Civic Hall site’.

Following a competitive tender, Hydrock were appointed to design and manage the project.

The building is not capable of taking the addition of a first floor, so the most cost effective solution is to demolish the building around the Main Hall and construct a new outer ring of buildings.

The proposals were presented at the Town Meeting in April and displayed in the Civic Hall.

The new Civic Centre will have all of the familiar features of the Civic Hall, including changing rooms, bars and catering facilities, but will be bigger and better.

In addition the council offices and the Information Centre will be moved to the new building.

The Trowbridge Information Centre will be larger and offer a much wider range of information and ticketing services to the public.

The new offices will provide accommodation for staff including the sports coaches, providing sports activities for young people across the Trowbridge Community Area.

While it was hoped that we would be able to provide a service throughout, it is clear that in order to minimise the time, costs and disruption, we will need to close the Civic Hall during redevelopment. We will accommodate many regular customers at other facilities during the closure and will welcome them back to the new Civic Centre when it is opened.

It is anticipated that the work will take place during 2010 and be completed in time for our busy autumn season, including our extremely popular Christmas and New Year events.

Of course this will cost money, around £4m in total, but the Town Council will also be making significant savings in maintenance, rent, and energy bills to off-set some of that cost.

The Town Council has also been listening and decided that the best way to finance this type of project is through loans, something not previously undertaken by the Town Council.

The loans will be paid off over a 50-year period, to ensure that all of the town’s residents, including those in future housing developments make a contribution to the facilities we provide. The Town Council is confident that this level of finance is affordable, within inflation only increases in the Council Tax.

Trowbridge Town Council hopes that you will support our objective of making improvements to Trowbridge.

We welcome your comments on our plans, which will be on display at the West Wilts Show in July and will welcome you to the new Civic Centre when it is completed.