A ROW has erupted over plans to open a £250,000 multi-purpose complex that is set to emerge down by the riverside in Malmesbury next summer with the redevelopment of the town’s former youth centre.

The latest of Wiltshire Council’s campus projects, The Riverside Centre will be created from the industrial-like Cotswold House next to the Co-op in Gloucester Road.

It will be run by a newly formed group, The Friends of Riverside, which will soon consult the public in a bid to produce a centre “shaped by the community for the community.”

Town councillor Kim Power, who chairs the group and has been working on the project for more than 18 months, said: “This is looking really good. I think it’s very exciting – a fantastic thing for the people of Malmesbury.”

The centre will be run by the Friends of the Riverside for a large range community groups and individuals, with a variety of potential uses – from youth cafe and a rehearsal-cum-performance facility to a Wiltshire Council information centre and a neighbourhood police point.

It could also be used provide a place for services to be delivered by Wiltshire Council and other organisations.

Coun Power felt the Wiltshire Council-funded campus would be well used and valued and would fill a need for extra community space in the Malmesbury area.

Earlier this year the Gazette revealed vacant Cotswold House, located next to the skate park alongside the River Avon, had been earmarked as the Malmesbury area’s community campus.

The first such facility The Springfield opened in Corsham last year.

Councillor Power said the outlay of the refurbishment was “very modest” as the building already existed, and that work would include new toilets and flooring and an overall re-paint.

But town councillor Gavin Grant slammed the scheme, saying that the money would be better spent elsewhere.

He was said he was especially concerned as Wiltshire Council would be spending up to £250,000 on a building that it leased rather than owned.

“Presumably when the lease expires the council will have to return it in the same state as it was when the lease was taken out. At a time of immense pressure on public services spending all this money on a building it doesn’t own seems a bit odd to me.”

Coun Grant also felt there was no shortage of community space in Malmesbury and that an all-purpose facility is not needed.

Coun Power said she was surprised at the criticism and re-emphasised the need for the campus.

She said there would be a public presentation evening in January with the aim of opening The Riverside Centre mid-summer.