Wiltshire leisure centre consultation gets under way

A three-month public consultation into plans for leisure centres in Wiltshire has started.

Wiltshire Council is proposing building new facilities and refurbishing others, while a number would be transferred to the community to run.

When the authority was formed over a year ago, it inherited 23 leisure facilities from the area's five former councils.

People can send their comments through the council's website.

'Major improvements'

A council spokeswoman said there would also be questionnaires in libraries and at leisure centres and people could send their views in by post, phone and e-mail.

The authority is proposing that leisure centres in Corsham, Downton, Pewsey, Tisbury, Westbury and Wootton Bassett, and Westbury and Bradford-on-Avon swimming pools, are run by community groups or trusts.

It also proposes new facilities in Melksham, Trowbridge, Warminster and Amesbury/Durrington, and major improvements to centres in Chippenham, Devizes, Malmesbury, Marlborough, Salisbury and Tidworth.

A council spokesman said the authority would have to invest more than £93m in the next 25 years to keep them at their current standards, excluding improvements.

He said the proposals would see at least £117m invested in the next 25 years.