Mayor vows to keep Melksham House plans on track despite funding flop

MELKSHAM’S mayor has vowed to ensure that Wiltshire Council ‘holds good’ on its promise to refurbish Melksham House after news that a bid for government funding has failed. 

Wiltshire Council had hoped for around £5million from the government’s Levelling Up Fund to support its plans to refurbish Melksham House into a ‘multifunctional and flexible hub’ for the local community. 

The funding would have been added to the £2million already set aside by Wiltshire Council for the project, which received planning permission last month from the council’s planning department. 

It had been said in July, by Wiltshire Council’s head of service of its economic regeneration department, Rory Bowen, that if successful, the government funding would have allowed the council to provide a ‘significantly improved business and community multi-functional space at Melksham House’. 

Now, following the news that the bid has been unsuccessful, Wiltshire Council has told Melksham News that it plans to ‘assess the options available’ to them and establish if more money is need to “provide the type of hub the town deserves”. 

But mayor cllr Jon Hubbard, who is both a Melksham Town councillor and a Wiltshire councillor, has vowed to ‘encourage’ Wiltshire Council to renovate the Grade II listed building as planned. 

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t get the funding,” said cllr Hubbard speaking to Melksham News, “but Wiltshire Council has made a series of promises about what they will deliver and our job now is to work with them and hold them to the promises that they have made. 

“As a town council what we need to do is talk to Wiltshire Council about how Melksham House will fit in with any masterplan or things that are happening on the site. But it is not for the town council to fund Wiltshire Council’s commitments. 

“Wiltshire Council will now need to look at how they are going to develop and manage that project. We all want to see this succeed – Wiltshire Council has made a commitment to funding it and we need to see them hold good on that commitment, which hopefully they will do. 

“And as a Wiltshire councillor, I will be asking consistently when that will be happening.” 

Later this month, in his role as a Wiltshire councillor, cllr Hubbard will ask Wiltshire Council’s cabinet members for reassurance about their commitment to the Melksham House plans, and for an update about when work will begin. 

He will ask cabinet members, “With the news that Wiltshire Council has not been successful in achieving the levelling up funding, which would have supported the redevelopment work on the Melksham House site, could the cabinet member please reassure me, as the local member, that the promised works on this historic building will be proceeded with and that the council will seek alternative funds to hold good to its word? 

“What are the timescales for the works on Melksham House and when can Melksham residents expect to see evidence of ‘spades in the ground’ as the work commences?”  

About the unsuccessful Levelling Up Fund bid, the leader of Wiltshire Council, cllr Richard Clewer, told Melksham News, “Although disappointed we weren’t successful in this round of the allocation of the Levelling Up Fund, we are not deterred and will continue to look for any opportunity available to us to improve our county and the lives of our residents. Bidding for this type of funding shows ambition and as a council and county we’re determined to not stand still. 

“We had already set aside some funding to develop Melksham House and we will now quickly assess the options available to us and establish whether more money is required to provide the type of hub the town deserves. With the campus build making great progress, Melksham has had significant investment and our plans for Melksham House complements our vision for the town.”   

Local MP Michelle Donelan, who helped champion the application, added, “We missed out on the Levelling up Fund for Melksham this time, but I have not given up. There will be several more rounds where funding will be allocated. I have already spoken to the Minister and reiterated the case for government investment into Melksham town and I have asked for feedback on our bid, so we can adapt it and secure the cash.”