Trowbridge Town Council spends £400k on scrapped 3G pitch

Trowbridge Town Council has spent more than £400,000 on the project but said due to spiralling costs it was no longer affordable

Plans to build a multi-million pound all-weather pitch in a town in Wiltshire have been scrapped.

Trowbridge Town Council has spent more than £400,000 on the project at Doric Park but said due to spiralling costs it was no longer affordable.

Councillor Mel Jacobs said it was a "hugely disappointing decision for the young people and for the town".

MP Andrew Murrison, said the plan was "ill conceived" and "hugely expensive for a town council that has no money".

The new third-generation synthetic surface was part of a £3.5m project to upgrade the town's sports facilities.

But at an emergency general meeting on 4 January councillors have voted to scrap the project.

Town councillor Antonio Piazza (right) said the project was estimated to cost closer to £15m but Mel Jacobs (left) said the £15m was an "unfair way to present it"

Town councillor Antonio Piazza said the project was "too complex" and, with the cost of borrowing, would have cost closer to £15m.

"For a start the pitch didn't fit on the land that was purchased so a ransom strip had to be obtained from the rugby club, using a lease agreement and there was no access," he said.

"And then we had the borrowing. Construction inflation was pushing up the cost of the overall project - at the end it was £6.6m but with interest over a 50 year period that's where we have this almost £15m estimate."

But Ms Jacobssaid the £15m was an "unfair way to present it".

"It wasn't going to cost £15m," she said.

"In 2020, we thought the project was going to cost £3.5m. By December 2023 the latest quote had come in and it was looking at £6.7m."

But she said she had "supported the recommendation" to shelve the project.

"It was the right decision financially for the council but obviously a hugely disappointing decision for the young people and for the town," she said.

Andrew Murrison MP said he was "not happy" as the failed project was going to cost his constituents "in excess of £400,000 for nothing"

Mr Murrison said the project was "ill conceived from the very beginning" and was going to cost his constituents "in excess of £400,000 for nothing".

"There was a lot of opposition to this. It was clearly going to be hugely expensive for a town council that has no money," he said.

"It has to borrow to do this. I think given the financial circumstances it was a risk that really shouldn't have been taken."

He said the council's "debt level is really quite eye watering" and it had let the town's residents down.

"Well I'm not happy with the town council, there are elected members on that council and officials who I know are motivated by the right things but they have got it badly wrong," he said.

"I'm very, very disappointed. I don't think the people of Trowbridge are being well served at the moment."