HOW will Westbury’s community campus be managed?
In 2010, Wiltshire Council’s review of leisure facilities proposed that Westbury should step forward and run its own facilities through ‘community ownership’ – an idea which was met with great consternation by residents who felt the council was trying to abdicate its responsibility.
In 2011, Wiltshire Council began plans to create a community campus in Westbury. As the idea was launched, the council said the principles of the leisure review remained the same, but it was also looking at all its services in Westbury and seeing if there was another way to manage them.
Now, in 2013, Westbury residents are being asked to vote on three models for a campus development in Westbury, but the consultation does not make any reference to the management arrangements.
The White Horse News asked Wiltshire Council whether Westbury is still expected to run facilities through community ownership but the council would not be drawn on the question.
A statement the council said, “We consider community involvement to be the central theme of our campus programme from start to finish.
“This means from the start where campuses are being shaped by community operations boards working through community area boards, through to the running of the new facilities which will use a new operating model which will include local involvement in the campus management.”
