The plans would mean that a new ‘campus’ would be built which would house replacements for Christie Miller, the Blue Pool, Melksham Library and Canberra Youth Club amongst others facilities.
The campaign has been launched by Wiltshire councillor for Melksham south, Jon Hubbard, who told Melksham Independent News, “This is just crazy. I think everyone can agree that Christie Miller needs to be replaced, and I understand the benefits of putting the leisure centre and the swimming pool in the same building. But to propose closing the popular town centre library and moving it out of town is simply insane, and it clearly shows just how detached from reality the Conservative administration in Trowbridge is.
“I notice that under the county-wide plans announced, Trowbridge is to have a nice new library provided right in the centre of the town, based in the newly refurbished County Hall. Melksham, meanwhile, as part of a cost cutting exercise is to lose its valuable and popular town centre site and instead have a facility dumped on the edge of town.
“I find it ironic that the same council that fought so hard to stop Adsa coming to Melksham on the basis of it being an out of town development has now had a complete change of heart and wants to move its own facilities away from the town centre.
“Once again we see the Conservatives in County Hall applying one rule for themselves and a completely different rule for everyone else. I urge every resident in Melksham to complete a copy of the consultation document that the council has issued. I will be making the online version available via my website at www.jonhubbard.org, or you will be able to collect a copy from the library or the Blue Pool. We need to make sure the voice of Melksham is heard loud and clear in County Hall.”
Wiltshire Councillor, Jonathon Seed said, “The consultation on the proposed Melksham campus for delivery of new council facilities for the Melksham Community Area has now been launched. This is an exciting project for Melksham which will see the provision of new council facilities in one location close to residential areas.
“The prospect of a new swimming pool, a new leisure centre together with the delivery of other council services in new buildings within the next three years is a great opportunity for Melksham.
“In addition, the possibility of a brand new library linked to the provision of regular transport to the new Melksham centre for council services is something which would not have been considered possible until the Conservative led Wiltshire Council started to rationalise the nine existing council service sites into one.
“It is sad that the opposition Liberals led by Jon Hubbard are campaigning against this exciting prospect for Melksham people. They have not put forward any viable alternative proposals for the future delivery of services in Melksham.
“In the current political climate I can understand their need to find some opposition to the Conservative administration which is offering so much for the people of Melksham but it is sad that they want to play politics with such a golden opportunity for leisure services in Melksham. I really do question whether the opposition Liberals have seriously examined the current usage figures for Melksham Library and considered just how vulnerable the current Melksham Library service will be if it is left out of the campus proposal.
“Together with the other Conservative members of Wiltshire Council in the Melksham Community Area I am determined to press for the delivery of the Melksham campus project and the new state-of-the-art leisure facilities which it offers the people of Melksham in the very near future.”

Learn about the plans

Wiltshire Council’s property manager, Neil Ward, will be speaking about the proposals at a meeting of Melksham Town Council’s development control committee on Monday 6th September at 7.00pm. The meeting is open to any members of public who would like to learn more about the plans.

Previously, children living in Semington were eligible for free transport to the George Ward School because they lived more than three miles from the school. However, now that the new school has opened, the council say that many of them live close enough to walk or cycle.
Wiltshire Council provides free transport for children who are under the age of 16 and who attend a local ‘designated’ school, if the distance from home to school is at least three miles for children aged eight or more (measured by the nearest available walking route).
Despite the Melksham Oak School being ‘designated’ by Wiltshire Council for children living in Semington, transport is not subsidised for many of them because they live within the three mile radius.
Last Wednesday, Melksham’s MP Duncan Hames joined a group of parents and children in a walk from their homes in Semington to the new school, taking the safest route as recommended by Wiltshire Council. The walk took them over an hour.
One of the parents, Neil Stockley told Melksham News, “We’re on the cusp of the three mile limit now that the school has moved.
“The village is bisected by this arbitrary line that has been drawn by Wiltshire Council. We think they should use a bit of discretion but instead they are using distance as a prime arbiter.”
A bus service which goes to and from the school is available to the children living within the three mile radius but a yearly pass costs just under £300 per child.
“The point is, there are some children in the village that get free transport and others who live just yards down the road must pay,” Neil added. “£300 is a lot of money - especially if you have two or three children.
“Wiltshire Council has made its stance very clear and we don’t really hold out too much hope that anything will change. It’s a ridiculous scenario.”
Melksham MP Duncan Hames said, “Staff at Wiltshire Council have drawn a line through Semington Parish Council and in this case it is down the middle of a residential road.
“I invited Wiltshire Council to join us on the walk to see the realities of what the children have to go through but they said they would do this at a later date, once the new term starts. However, quite rightly the families want this resolved before the start of term.
“I would hope that there would be room for some flexibility at Wiltshire Council and to have a policy in place that doesn’t divide communities like this.”
A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said, “We understand parents’ concerns, and have offered to meet with them to walk this route when the school term starts, however all routes used by pupils to get to school, which are less than three miles, are assessed by our road safety experts.
“The law states children must live at least three miles from their nearest school to receive free school transport. This qualifying distance is reduced to two miles if the child gets free school meals or the family receive the maximum level of working tax credits.
“The closure of George Ward to the new state-of-the-art facilities at Melksham Oak School has of course changed the areas covered by this entitlement.
“This means some areas which weren't previously entitled to free transport now are, and some which were, are no longer entitled.”
Pictured above: MP Duncan Hames with parents and children in Semington.

18-year-old Phoebe achieved A* grades in all three of her subjects - art, textiles, and photography.
In both art and textiles, her marks placed her in the top 1% in the whole country. As if that’s not enough, were it not for two marks she would also have been in the top 1% for photography.
Phoebe, who took her exams at The Corsham School, will now be able to use her top grades to take an art foundation course at City of Bath College. She eventually wants to go on to study at university, aiming for a career in fashion.
“I did put in a lot of work so I’m obviously really pleased with the results,” Phoebe told Melksham Independent News. “It’s just a bit of a shame I dropped those two marks in photography!”

Mark Cleverley and Debz Thompson will both be undertaking tandem skydives at Redlands Airfield, near Swindon, on 4th September.
They are both raising money for the Dorothy House Hospice, in Winsley, in memory of Mark's late wife, Mandy. Mandy tragically died after suffering from a brain tumour in 2007, leaving Mark and their two children Laura and Daniel, who are now both in their teens. After being diagnosed with the tumour, Mandy received care from Dorothy House Hospice.
The skydive, which will see the pair jump from a plane 10,000 feet in the air, was Debz' idea. She was good friends with Mandy and used to cut her hair.
"I'll be turning 40 on 13th September and I wanted to do something different," Debz said. "I had the idea last year so I've had it planned for quite a long time now."
Mark, who is a regular volunteer at the Dorothy House Hospice, has to date raised over £2,000 for Dorothy House. The money has all been donated to a 'tulip fund' in Mandy’s memory which now totals around £4,500.
Debz' grandfather Alan Burns, known to friends as 'Bernie', was also cared for by nurses from the Winsley- based hospice when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour in July last year. Sadly, he died last month.
Both Mark and Debz have been collecting sponsorship money for the skydives and have each raised hundreds of pounds already.
Debz said, "People have been very generous so far. I went around the Parson's Nose pub recently and managed to raise a lot from the punters there."
Collectively, they are expecting to raise around £3,000 which will all be donated to Dorothy House Hospice.
"Since I have been volunteering at the hospice, it has opened my eyes to how important it is for helping so many people who are suffering," Mark said.
Mark has his own webpage where people can sponsor him for the skydive. Log on to www.justgiving.com/mcleverley
JustGiving sends your donation straight to Dorothy House Hospice Care and automatically reclaims Gift Aid on all eligible donations, so what you give is worth even more. I hope you'll join me in supporting Dorothy House Hospice Care.
If you would like to sponsor Debz for the skydive, you can call her on 07769157689.

The school’s A-level students had an overall pass rate of 95%, with all students achieving one or more A-levels. The GCSE results were also pleasing. For the third year running, the number of students achieving five A*-C grades has increased, with 57% of students achieving five A*-C grades, and 47% of students achieving five A*-C including English and maths.
Headteacher at the school, Steve Clark said he was “delighted” with the results. Speaking about the A-level results, he said, “This is a great start for Melksham Oak Community School.
“We had a larger cohort of students this year in our growing sixth form and they achieved increasing numbers of top grades featuring a number of the new A* grades, available nationally for the first time this year.”
A-level student Nicola Wade achieved A*s in both English literature and philosophy & ethics, as well as a B in history. Her results get her onto her chosen degree course of international politics & strategic studies.
“It was a mix of surprise and relief opening my results,” she told Melksham Independent News. “I will be going to Aberystwyth University and I’m thinking about going into a military career or something in diplomacy.”
Other top performing A-level students included James Reid, who achieved three A grades, Jess Dobson, who achieved two As and a B, and James Walker, who achieved three As and a B, and Joanne Rowe, who excelled in art, English literature, maths, and music.
Taking into account ‘value added’ measures, which are used to calculate the progress students have made from one stage of their education to another, this year’s GSCE results place Melksham Oak Community School in the top 25% of schools nationally.
“This is a fitting tribute to The George Ward School and an excellent start for Melksham Oak Community School,” said Steve Clark. “It is a reflection of the hard work of our students and support from parents and staff.”
Straight ‘A’ student, 16-year-old Klaudia Smigielska has plenty of reasons to celebrate after opening her results. Her four A* grades and six A grades were amongst the best results the school has ever seen.
“I was really nervous during the exam period but I put a lot of work into them so I guess it has paid off nicely,” she said.
Her classmate, Craig Croucher achieved four A*s grades, four A grades, a B, and a D. He plans to go on to study chemistry, physics, maths, and geography at the school’s sixth form and is hoping to eventually study for a physics degree at university.
Natalie A’Bear also excelled in this year’s exams, achieving five A* grades and six A grades.
Christine Deadman, chair of governors said, “We are delighted with these wonderful results. Well done to all of our students. The governors would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff for continuing to work so hard with, and on behalf of, the students during what has been a very exciting transition year into Melksham Oak Community School.’

Stonar School

Stonar School, the independent boarding school for girls, in Atworth, saw an impressive set of results this year.
In the A-level results, the students achieved a 100% pass rate with 73.1% A-C grades. One student, Evelyn Hodgkin, achieved two A* grades and one A grade, guaranteeing her place at Leeds University where she will study ecology and environmental biology.
Stonar also achieved a 100% pass rate overall in GCSEs this year. Almost half of the Stonar year group gained five or more A*/A passes and 25% of the girls were awarded eight or more A*/A grades. One student, Alicja Borsberry-Woods, achieved ten A* grades and two A grades.

The ribbon will be cut at 11am by BBC Radio 4 star Trevor Harrison MBE who plays Eddie Grundy in The Archers. Eddie will also be on hand to meet fans and sign autographs. Children’s entertainment including Tractor Ted will also be laid on throughout the day.
This event will open a new, purpose-built flagship store for Countrywide, relocating the old store, to its new, next door site. This represents a £1.5m investment in the town by Countrywide.
And the old store will close its doors to make way for the new Melksham ASDA supermarket development.
The store has a 13,400 sq ft retail area which is bigger than the old store. It will continue to deliver popular and essential local services to the town and the surrounding rural community. The store will offer all the previous products and services, plus – a new covered garden centre, a new support service area for farmers, an improved area and range for horse-owner customers called ‘Equestrian World’, fresh local produce on sale, a customer café and additional and improved car parking.
The Melksham store manager is David Tucker, who has been at the helm for 40 years and is of course, a friend to many customers and well known in the local community. The store team of 20 will all relocate into the new building.
The new store will be Countrywide’s ‘greenest’ store yet as all of the heat and hot water used in the store will be generated by a 150KW biomass boiler running on wood pellets  – a facility and product that is now on sale to farms and other businesses via Countrywide. The Garden Centre will also collect and reuse a substantial amount of the rainwater collected from the roof canopy. Further improvements have been achieved by reducing the wattage level used to light the store by up to 50% compared to previous Countrywide store fit-outs.
Store manager, David Tucker, explains, “We are very proud to be a well-known part of Melksham’s past and Melksham’s future. Countrywide is committed to the town and the surrounding area and we are delighted to be playing a key role in its retail regeneration. Our new store will deliver the services and products Countrywide customers know and love but will be bigger and better, all in a modern and attractive retail environment.
“I’d like to thank our many supporters over the past few months for their help in delivering this project. This includes Councillors, the Chamber of Commerce and other partners.
“Personally, I am delighted to be able after all these years, to continue to lead the team here and I am looking forward to welcoming our regular customers and new customers into the new building.”
The day before the grand opening on Friday 17th September the local Town Cryer, Cllr., Peter Dauncey will be announcing the event throughout the town.
The store address is Countrywide Farmers PLC, Bradford Road, Melksham, Wiltshire. SN12 8LQ.

The Roundhouse, in Church Street, has for the past four years been home to the Melksham & District Historical Association, where the group exhibits historic artefacts, photographs and documents.
However, last month the group announced that it will no longer be using the building due to financial and practical reasons, meaning the items will go to a lock-up.
The news sparked interest from Melksham man Paul Carter, who suggests there should be a permanent place in town where Melksham’s history can be freely available to the public.
Paul told Melksham Independent News, “It’s just an idea and I’d be interested to see what people in Melksham think about it. I’d like to see a proper museum in Melksham, as other towns like Trowbridge have, which is paid for by the rates.
“Melksham has an awful lot of history so it is a shame that it will not be accessible when the Roundhouse closes. The building itself is not large enough to allow many people in to look around so another building, existing or not, would have to be found.
“Working part-time, I would be willing to volunteer my time and write to the necessary people, but I would like to find out what other people think of the idea.”
Chair of Melksham & District Historical Association, John Holness said, “We’ve had a good time at the Roundhouse and have gained a lot from it, but finances are the main reason we are having to give it up.
“Also, none of our volunteers are getting any younger and it was proving a little too much to find enough people with enough time. The Roundhouse was just large enough to take the majority of what we have to show - we haven’t got enough to recreate a museum as such.
“Unfortunately, the general public have not been over-enthusiastic about the Roundhouse. It wouldn’t be unusual for a volunteer to do a two-hour shift in there and not see anybody.”
Above: Paul Carter in front of the Roundhouse in Church Street.

The Melksham Area Board will be holding a special meeting on 8th September from 7.00pm to 9.00pm at the new Melksham Oak Community School, where up to six groups of young people will be presenting their ideas for projects. The meeting is open to the public and everyone present will be able to vote on the projects and influence how to allocate the funding.
Projects include activities that young people would not normally be able to access. This includes bringing a trainer from London to teach Parkour.
Several of the groups of young people plan to use the funding to reduce the cost of activities to make them more affordable. These include visiting Club Boom, going on a high ropes course, subsidising bus fares and minibus hire to reach activities further afield such as ice-skating and the cinema. Another innovative idea proposed is the production of a pocket-sized card with details of bus routes and fares to help young people to travel around the area.
After the voting, cllr Lionel Grundy, cabinet member for children and young people, will be available to take any questions from the public.
Cllr Jon Hubbard, Melksham Area Board member responsible for youth matters commented, "This is a really exciting opportunity for young people to not only gain vital funding for local projects which they themselves have thought up, planned and presented, but also for them to participate in the democratic process. They will be making the choices about which projects get the money on the night - theirs are the voices that will matter.
"I hope lots of Melksham's young people will seize this opportunity to have a say in making a real difference to issues that directly affect them - choosing how the council spends some of its money for young people."
A total of £100,000 has been made available for projects for young people, by the cabinet of Wiltshire Council, following a conference last year highlighting the access and transport difficulties experienced by young people across the county. Almost £5,000 of this funding has been delegated to the Melksham Area Board for this purpose.

Enquiries have revealed that a couple were seen on CCTV walking in the town centre in Melksham on Sunday 8th March, 2009. The CCTV image captured the man and woman as they were opposite the taxi rank at approximately 01.10am.
Later that morning a man was seen running from the direction of Bowerhill towards the town centre. He was seen in the area of Spa Road petrol station at about 02.50 am. He is described as being of slim build and was wearing jeans and light coloured shoes or trainers.
DS Rob Findlay who is investigating said, “We have had a good response to our earlier appeals and we need the help of the public to identify these three people. I must stress that they are being sought as potential witnesses and we would appreciate their assistance as they may have key information to aid our investigation.”
Anyone who has information or can help identify the people pictured is asked to please contact DS Findlay on 01380 734217 or Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 where information may be left anonymously if preferred.

After many years spent lobbying for the move, the pre-school’s management committee are excited about the dawn of a new era. Myrthe Edney, a member of the pre-school’s committee said, “The pre-school will finally gain an outdoor play area, something that has been sorely missed with the village hall. We will also be able to do what the parents in Holt have been asking us for years; extend our opening hours.
“We will run sessions from 9.00am-3.00pm now and are looking into offering breakfast and an after-school club for school-aged children from January 2011 onwards. The extended opening hours is going to make a huge impact on the community of Holt, which doesn't have any other form of childcare in the village.”