PEOPLE in Pewsey are celebrating news that work is about to start on an £8 million leisure centre but the village will be without a swimming pool for 18 months.

A detailed planning application for the new sports centre, which includes a large fitness suite, a new four lane 25 metre pool, a multi-purpose room for group exercise classes and a meeting room, has now been submitted and work is likely to go out to tender in September.

The development at the site of the existing sports centre next to Pewsey Vale School also incorporates space for an indoor skate park for boarding scooting and BMX.

Jerry Kunkler, chairman of the Pewsey Area Board, said that officers would work with schools to find alternative places for children to swim during the work.

He said: "The swimming pool is going to be fully renovated and we are currently working with the leisure team and the schools to make arrangements for the schools to use another pool. We have Devizes and Marlborough as the closest ones, so it is all looking good.

"It is going to mark the end of an era because the people in Pewsey during the 60s put their money together and built it, so it is very much a community asset. That being said, the new pool is going to be larger than the one we have now and it will be a great addition to the village."

He said the council was also making arrangements for people to be able to use a gym at Fordbrook Estate, Pewsey.

Carol Grant head of Pewsey Vale School, said that although pupils will miss the convenience of having the pool next door during the work they were enthusiastic about the new development.

She said: "This is a really exciting project that will provide a new state of the art facility which will benefit the school and the wider community."

John Thomson, cabinet member for Communities, Campuses, Area Boards and Broadband, said: “This is an exciting new chapter for the Pewsey area as we move closer to creating this new £8 million centre, which will provide a real focal point for the residents.

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: "Subject to planning approval, the contract will go out to tender this summer with the new centre opening in spring 2018.

The existing leisure centre will close this September for the duration of the build programme and interim leisure provision will be provided."

Graham Scott, manager of Marlborough Leisure Centre, said: “We are in the planning stages at the moment of where and when people will start going to other facilities. It isn’t just Marlborough, it is also Tidworth and Devizes that have facilities.” He said there was likely to be spare capacity for school swimming sessions at the other pools.