WILTSHIRE Council has responded to concerns from the community about Melksham’s “insufficient” sports and leisure facilities.
The council has said that they are “committed” to providing leisure activities for the town, and has already “invested heavily” in facilities for Melksham.
In the last issue of Melksham News, locals had called on Wiltshire Council to provide temporary facilities to fill the gap in sports and leisure provision left by the delay to build the Melksham Campus, and the restricted reopening of Melksham Blue Pool, which has been forced to operate at a reduced capacity due to Covid-19. They also raised concerns about the rise in new housing in the town, which was putting more pressure on the town’s already stretched facilities.
Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Wiltshire Council cabinet member for leisure, told Melksham News, “We are committed to providing leisure activities for people of all ages and have invested heavily in Melksham over a number of years.
“As part of the campus programme we have already invested more than £7.5m to provide sports facilities in the town, including the Oakfields football and rugby facility, the Fifth Skate Park, two new tennis courts and a new cricket pavilion. The campus itself is a multi-million pound investment in the future of leisure, health and wellbeing in the local area.
“We also run a number of groups as part of our Healthier Communities programme including men’s fitness, walking netball, This Girl Can and seated sports. There are also a host of other publicly available sports facilities in Melksham operated by other organisations including a sports hall and astro-turf pitch at Melksham Oak School and a multi-sport court at Rivermead School.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has obviously had an impact on the services we have been able to provide over the last five months or so, but despite this, we made available a wide variety of activity packs and online videos for people to try at home – which proved to be hugely popular.
“We’re pleased that Melksham Blue Pool was able to recently reopen following its Covid-19 closure, and that will continue to be available providing services until Melksham Community Campus has opened.
“As previously confirmed, the campus schedule has been delayed due to Covid-19, but when built it will provide high quality leisure and community services and be a real focal point for the local area.”
