FEARS have been expressed that the Wiltshire Air Ambulance will not be shared with Wiltshire Police in the future and a new helicopter based near Bristol will serve the county.

Bosses at the Great Western Ambulance Service met representatives from Wiltshire Police on Thursday at ambulance headquarters in Chippenham.

The meeting included discussing renewing the lease on the Explorer helicopter. The Gazette understands the police want to renew this for a further five years from December 2008 and to contine with a shared police helicopter/air ambulance.

Neither side would reveal the outcome of the meeting but the Gazette understands that ambulance service bosses indicated their reluctance at carrying on with a shared helicopter.

Wiltshire Police pays the running costs of the helicopter, which is more than £1 million a year, while the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Appeal - funded entirely by donations from the public - needs to raise £350,000 a year.

The Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) is due to launch a new air ambulance for Avon soon, based at Filton.

Campaigners fear that GWAS will use the Filton-based air ambulance to cover Wiltshire in the future and are worried what will happen to the money in the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Appeal's coffers. The most recent accounts available, up to March 31 2007, showed there was just over £1.1 million in the appeal fund.

GWAS has been reviewing the future of Wiltshire Air Ambulance for the past 16 months. It is examining whether a shared police and ambulance helicopter is appropriate in Wiltshire or whether an air ambulance with a doctor and paramedics on board would be better. A spokeswoman for GWAS was unable to say when a decision would be made about the future of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

The spokeswoman said: "We have routine meetings with all our partner organisations. The meeting held on April 24 was one such meeting with Wiltshire Police.

"We are in ongoing discussions about the future options for providing air ambulance cover for the people of Wiltshire. No decisions have been made.

"The Wiltshire Air Ambulance trustees (which is the board of GWAS) remain committed to providing air ambulance cover for the people of Wiltshire.

"Wiltshire Air Ambulance Appeal is a restricted fund within the Great Western Ambulance Service charity so none of these funds are being used by Great Western Ambulance Service charity. The Wiltshire Air Ambulance fund can only be used to provide air cover in Wiltshire."

A routine meeting of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance appeal committee, due to be held on May 9, has been cancelled.

Ann Levick, a lay member of the committee from Codford, said she had been told the reason was because GWAS chief executive Tim Lynch was unable to attend.

Mrs Levick said: "The chief executive hasn't been to a meeting of the committee before so it raises the question of why he was due to attend. The impression I am getting about the future of Wiltshire Air Ambulance is negative."

Wiltshire Air Ambulance is one of only two air ambulances in the country that can operate at night.

GWAS has previously said that the new air ambulance it plans to have in Avon would not be able to fly at night.