Minutes:
The Chairman advised that planned to take questions in an orderly manner, taking questions on each Campus issue/topic, rather than a scatter gun approach.
Questions raised included:
Swimming
Q.Is Melksham likely to be left with no swimming pool facilities?
A.No, swimming facilities are always part of the offer.
Q.Will the swimming pool be the last work to be done?
A.Unable to answer that at the moment, it is planned to open the Campus as a complete complex.
Q.The Community Operations Board had spent a good deal of time discussing access and specs of the swimming facilities, will this work be feed into the design?
A.Yes, the work done by the Community Operations Board would feed into the pool design.
Q.Will the swimming facilities be run and operated by Wiltshire Council?
A.Yes.
Fitness Suite
Q.Does the Campus really need a fitness suite?
A.Yes, fitness suites are good income generators, which will underpin the swimming facilities etc.
Tea Dances
Q.Will Wiltshire Council provide tea dances?
A.Wiltshire Council were not looking to compete with Melksham Assembly Hall, or The Riverside Club etc.
Sports Hall
No questions raised.
Café/Library
Q.Will the new library have the same book capacity as the current one, and provide some facilities for local schools?
A.Yes.
Q.Will the proposed café overlook the pond area?
A.That is the aspiration.
Q. Will the proposed café/library be fully wheelchair accessible?
A.Yes.
Q.Will the café be run by Wiltshire Council?
A.Wiltshire Council are open to a local community group running it, or perhaps a local business.
Q.Will Wiltshire Council ensure that public transport links are provided for the Campus.
A.Experience has shown at County Hall that when the library relocated to the main site that numbers and footfall increased.
Squash
No questions raised.
Tennis
Q.Can the tennis club have new courts as soon as possible?
A.Wiltshire Council will look at what it can do to try and get the tennis court provision up and running as soon as possible. It was agreed that an update on this would be proved at the 18 February 2018 Melksham Area Board meeting.
Multi Use Games Area (MUGA)
Q.What will the muga be?
A.The same size as the one at the King George v playing fields.
Q.Will the new muga be floodlit?
A.This hasn’t been decided yet, if it was, then modern low level lighting would be used.
Outdoor Bowls
Q.The outdoor bowls club have concerns re the amount of footfall around the bowling green during the redevelopment, can we be assured that the bowling green during this time?
A.Yes, the area will be fenced off.
Cricket
Q.Would there be public access to the cricket club?
A.There would be some restrictions, regarding the security of the square.
Q. Was the cricket pavilion insured?
A. The value of the building did not meet the threshold for an insurance payout.
Q.Why have you provided such an expensive facility for effectively 18 members?
A. The club made a decision on where they would like to play and the council supported this. Not just 18 players, the have a large junior section as well. The club produced a business case and are working towards growing the club.
Melksham Without PC
Q. Where will the offices be for the parish?
A. That level of design has not been considered, however, we will be in contact during this phase.
Surgery
Q.Would public funds be spent the surgery?
A.Yes, the building would be rented by the surgery operating it. By providing modern purpose built facilities there was more chance of attracting GPs and providing a good quality of service. It also made the campus more sustainable.
Q.Why not use the old Melksham House building as a redeveloped surgery complex?
A.The Health Authority would not invest in a redeveloped building, it had to be new build to attract the investment.
Q.Could the surgery be a priority on the site build plan?
A. The Surgery has been positioned to be self-contained and therefore there is a potential to be on different timescales to the rest of the build.
Q. Why is the GP surgery on the periphery of the site?
A. Would like to have positioned at Melksham House, however, their specifications require that a new build is provided if they are to commit to a 25 year lease.
Q. Could the MUGA and GP surgery change positions on the site plan?
A. Potentially, this is an indicative layout.
Q. Is this a new GP surgery?
A. No, this is St Damian’s Surgery being relocated.
Indoor Bowls
Q. Would indoor bowls be accommodated if Christie Miller was closed?
A. We would look at alternative leisure provision in the town, however, at this moment in time we cannot answer this question.
Q. The Indoor Bowls Club cannot access the £150k you provided as it requires us to raise match funding.
A.Wiltshire Council encouraged the bowls club to proactively seek other funding to match what we have offered.The bowls club need to develop a business case that looks at how the building can be built and also how it can remain sustainable. Wiltshire Council have also offered to provide the space for the club to build the new facility. This is a very fair offer.
Q. Why is indoor bowls not in the campus when it the space can be multi-functional?
A. This is not the case. The flooring was timely to take up and down and given the restrictions to using the green it would have been completely unpractical to deliver this model.
Q. The Bowls delivers a big income stream – why not include it in the campus?
A. When Wiltshire Council looked at this the figures did not stack up. If there is a good level of revenue then this will help when forming your business case.
Q. Why not invest in Christie Miller to keep it running for longer?
A. There is a huge amount of asbestos, the building is falling apart and almost unsafe for use.
Q. It’s a disgrace that bowls has been brushed under the carpet when there are so many members and Cricket has been invested in so heavily.
A. We have provided a site, £150k match funding. The strong bowls community need to work together on this.
Q. We were asked to amalgamate the clubs which we did and then the bowls facility was thrown out without consultation.
A. We have provided a site, £150k match funding. The strong bowls community need to work together on this.
Q. Have Cllrs actually visited the facility or played a game of bowls?
A. Yes, they have visited the facility.
General Site Plan and general questions
Q. The idea of the campus was to bring it into town, however, the prime position of the site has now gone to residential development.
A. Wiltshire Council have had to look at accommodating some residential to help pay for the development. The funding to pay for this will be a mixture of sale of assets and borrowing. This is where the officers have provisionally identified as the best position for the residential.
Q. What type of residential will it be? Are there enough car parking spaces provided?
A. This will be agreed at the planning stages.
Q. What would Melksham House be used for?
A. It would be converted into residential.
Q. Could the Blue Pool not just be updated and house the pool, leaving the campus free for Bowls?
A.This would not be suitable and in this scenario we would not receive the Sport England funding. The funding is dependent on us providing a centre of excellence for swimming.
Q Why is there not more effort to sell the redundant stock before proceeding?
A. Wiltshire Council has sold over £85 million worth of buildings since it became one council. More properties are being put up for development all the time. It takes time.
Q. When will construction start?
A. Construction will start in July 2019 and will take 18 months.
Q. Frustration over the time delay and the lack of communication.
A. There will be a written update for each Area Board.
Q. Were there any covenants on the land when passed over from Cooper Tyres?
A. No conditions or restrictions on the site.
Q. Could a local oversight committee be set up?
A. COBs were wound down a couple of years ago and all the local discussions should come through the Area Board. This is now in the delivery phase that can be done by officers.
Q. Nobody considered that flats would be at Melksham House. Why?
A. The house itself will be retained for residential, however, it’s likely the hall will be removed.
Q. There were concern over lost parking and would it be free?
A. Parking would not be charged for, however, there would likely be restrictions over use. This would be looked at during planning.
Q. Access to the site remains a concern, especially given the increased traffic for residential.
A. It may have to come through one of the other residential routes. We would like to have at least one additional access but this is to be discussed.
Q. Will the residential development go hand in hand with the rest of the development?
A. Wiltshire Council will aim to have one building development, but this cannot be confirmed at this stage.
Q. We need to invest in the prevention programme for seniors. Not just at the campus but across the town as a whole.
A.This was agreed.