Tuesday 12th March 2013
From Warminster Town Council website ~
Tennis Pavilion to be converted to a café.
Following many years of discussions between Warminster Town Council, Friends of Warminster Park and Wiltshire Council, permission has at last been obtained for the dilapidated and unused tennis pavilion in Warminster Park to be converted to a café. The current tea hut is becoming unfit for purpose, so a new facility has been sought for some time.
Wiltshire Council, who own the asset, have agreed to fund £15K towards bringing the pavilion back to a reasonable state of repair, including providing disabled access. The cost of converting the building will be met by Friends of Warminster Park and the Town Council. The total cost for renovation and conversion has been quoted at £34,500, leaving a shortfall of £19,500.
Friends of Warminster Park have £10K in reserve for the conversion, and Councillor Ridout requested that the £10K that has been held in earmarked reserves for the Grovelands play area be put back into Council reserves and subsequently earmarked for the pavilion. The Grovelands play area has been on hold since 2007 because of disputes over land ownership, and it is unlikely that any further progress would be made on this project.
Councillor Ridout abstained from voting because she was making the application as Chair of Friends of Warminster Park, but the remaining Councillors were unanimous in their support of the earmarking of funds for the pavilion project. Mayor Rob Fryer said “this has been a long and difficult battle, and it is great that progress can be made at last’.