Last Tuesday (21st), the Melksham Chamber of Commerce paid host to Roy While and Mark Stone, talking about the Melksham Campus at Melksham House. The meeting was well advertised and open to all, and gave Roy and Mark an early opportunity to inform, and listen to, interested businesses.

(Roy While, Wiltshire Councilor, Chair of Shadow Community Operations Board [SCOB])
(Mark Stone, Service Director - Transformation Programme, Wiltshire Council)

Wiltshire Council has a number of facilities in Melksham which are becoming life expired. The "classic" example is Christie Miller sports centre where a long-term fix of the roof would cost a sizable part of the budget for complete new facility, but it's not unique. And so a decision was made, at Wiltshire Cabinet, in December to go ahead with a Campus. Much preparatory work had been done ahead of time, although a great deal of that was based on an out of town site; based on inputs from the people of Melksham, and the location and purchase of a town centre site, the Campus is now to be in the Melksham House grounds. The move suits the vast majority of people, but introduces new issues into the project, which need to be freshly evaluated rather than assumed from the early planning based on Woollmore farm.

Melksham House is a very active building, with great deal going on already, not a green field with just grass on it. That's a blessing more than a curse, but it changes the project. The project team has to consider the existing uses, many of which are already the sort of activities that a Campus is designed to support, and it's in a listed building, on a site which may be of some archaeological interest. And Melksham House is in the town centre. Again, much more of a blessing than a curse, as travel too and from the Campus can share facilities with travel to and from the town centre to the mutual advantage of both. But issues such as these are also extra challenges that need to be got right.

Roy described how the SCOB is comprised as wide a variety of community and user representatives as is practical in a working group style committee, and how the group has jumped in with enthusiasm. At first, it's very much been a learning exercise to listen to inputs and indeed after Roy's talk discussions helped fill Roy and Mark in to the feelings of businesses represented at the meeting. Similar meetings have been helped in relation to access for all, and will be coming up on travel and transportation. Users at various existing centres have been canvassed, as have various groups in the council and wider community - very much a learning process. Extra steps are being taken to reach outside only users of the current facilities, particularly in the youth area. And the consultation of about a year ago is also being used as a guiding light - not in terms of quantitative data that is now somewhat changed because of the location change, but in terms of qualitative values to ensure that nothing is overlooked. The consultation itself is not being re-opened, as this has been "consulted to death" and we need to get the Campus built before there's a catastrophic roof failure at Christie Miller which shuts the place down. ("Nightmare Scenario" was the term used)

Plans .. timetable. At present, the SCOB is learning from user and potential user groups, and working out guidelines and strategies about what's important in the design for Melksham. This will be overlaid with services that must be provided (legally) and services which county insist on having in each town. And these guidelines will be part of the package that goes to bidding architects. An architect will be selected (based on best practice, experience, and many other elements including their ability to best meet local aspirations. There is then a design and planning and planning permission phase. Feedback will go through the SCOB as well as Wiltshire Council; elements of this localism approach are new to the council and to the SCOB - in the past, Melksham might just have been provided with a "cookie cutter" campus, but it shouldn't be the case this time - but lets see how it works out. Included on the SCOB is Stephen Clark, who as headmaster of the new Melksham Oak school was a key interactor with the team who designed and built it. The SCOB is delighted to have such experience on board.

These phases will take us through 2012 - there won't be any start to work on the ground of building a new Campus this year, although changes may happen / start away from the site. Melksham Town Football club are limited by their facilities at the Melksham House site, and the opportunity s being taken to help them move - a real "win,win". And their story is not unique. Plans are for building to happen in 2013, for completion and opening the following year. And it's intended to maintain existing services that will be transferring to the Campus building in their existing locations until that transfer happens.

Some key terms:

Continuity
- Maintaining Services as far as practical, though not necessarily in the same place / way
Congestion
- Traffic - and public transport routes and parking must work.
Competition
- Not wanting to duplicate commercial services
Collaboration
- An asset to the town rather than beside the town
Coordination
- The SCOB is a recommender and has to work within other frameworks and with other parties
Co-operation
- Making multiple use of shared space

Snooker, Skittles, Soccer, Rugby, Cricket, Senior Meals, Tennis, Bowls, Dance Classes, Bridge Clubs and other groups almost every single day; private parties from Christenings to Funerals and every lifetime event between. Dog walkers, cyclists, fisherpeople and ramblers. User groups and individuals from Christie Miller, the library, the swimming pool, and Canberra. Other groups who are not presently engaged; some of the existing facilities only reach a small proportion of their potential user base, and potential user bases should grow, as should community uses. This is not just a replacement - it's the future. Museum, Police, exhibitions, working with the Assembly Hall, Information Point, CAB, Special Needs, and much more ... there is so much to consider.

Speaking personally, I would love to have seen a lot more people at Roy and Mark's presentation and canvas for inputs. But then I take comfort in knowing that - with similar publicity - we filled the same room on the subject of where the Campus might go last April (at a time that the potential availability of other sites wasn't public knowledge). So either no one is interested any more, or Roy, Mark and his team are trusted in their role for the community. Anyhow - people who didn't come have missed an opportunity to make inputs. That's a great shame if they had something to say, but it's not too late to make points and now is a good time - while the SCOB is still putting the strategies together and listing to requirements and requests and learning where the the very best can be provided for the future in a budget efficient and most productive way. Feedback via the SCOB's web site at http://www.melkshamcampus-scob.org.uk/, or get in touch with any member of the SCOB - they're listed here.
(written 2012-02-27, updated 2012-03-10)

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