Hot TOPICS 
Town will not lose swimming pool promises cabinet member
(July 22, 2010)DESPITE rumours to the contrary there is no prospect of Warminster
being left without a swimming pool in the foreseeable future, said a
leading Warminster councillor.
Cllr Keith Humphries, who is also a Wiltshire Council cabinet member, told the town council that the latest plans involved Warminster getting an entirely new facility in 2023.
''The existing one isn't closing until the new one is built in 2023,'' he said.
The county council's plan is to house all of it main service provision inside the new 'hub' facility - including a library.
He gave no hint of where the new hub would be built but suggested that it could be modelled on the Tidworth facility.
VFW's Steve Dancey, said: ''This is interesting but we know that townsfolk will not react kindly to the removal of the library from its existing excellent position in the town centre.
''I know the Tidworth hub very well and was there when it was opened by General Sir Mike Jackson in 2000 but it was an entirely different circumstance and the old Tidworth library was falling to pieces.
''The 10 million pound capital cost of the Tidworth Leisure Centre was 95 per cent funded by the Ministry of Defence.
''I can't see such a thing being built in Warminster the current financial climate.''
The existing Warminster Sports Centre opened in 1973 and the swimming pool replaced the one in the park which was used by primary school children for lessons.
Children were allowed in if the temperature was over 57 degrees - It was awful.
Cllr Keith Humphries, who is also a Wiltshire Council cabinet member, told the town council that the latest plans involved Warminster getting an entirely new facility in 2023.
''The existing one isn't closing until the new one is built in 2023,'' he said.
The county council's plan is to house all of it main service provision inside the new 'hub' facility - including a library.
He gave no hint of where the new hub would be built but suggested that it could be modelled on the Tidworth facility.
VFW's Steve Dancey, said: ''This is interesting but we know that townsfolk will not react kindly to the removal of the library from its existing excellent position in the town centre.
''I know the Tidworth hub very well and was there when it was opened by General Sir Mike Jackson in 2000 but it was an entirely different circumstance and the old Tidworth library was falling to pieces.
''The 10 million pound capital cost of the Tidworth Leisure Centre was 95 per cent funded by the Ministry of Defence.
''I can't see such a thing being built in Warminster the current financial climate.''
The existing Warminster Sports Centre opened in 1973 and the swimming pool replaced the one in the park which was used by primary school children for lessons.
Children were allowed in if the temperature was over 57 degrees - It was awful.