Calne’s old fire and ambulance station to get £250,000 revamp

The listed building beside Calne's Town Hall which was once the town’s fire and ambulance station is to be refurbished and used for community groups.

The town council has now taken control of the Grade II listed building from Wiltshire Council and estimates repairs to the 135-year-old structure might cost around £250,000.

The fire and ambulance station was first based there in 1888 but is now showing its age and the town council says its calls on the local authority to fix it have not been answered.

Mayor of Calne, Councillor Tony Trotman said: “We lost our borough status in 1974 and the building was passed on to North Wiltshire District Council then to Wiltshire Council and since those days the building has deteriorated.

“We have tried to get Wiltshire Council to repair it and make it waterproof so it could be used for the community, but they didn’t want to do that.

“So Calne have been trying to get the building back after around 10 or 12 years with no luck.

“Surveys suggest it’ll take about a quarter of a million pounds to make sure the listed building was safe to use and we have just been allowed to take it over. I signed the papers as town mayor about two weeks ago.

“We will now be looking to get an updated survey on the building and we will either have to go the public works loan board or we may be able to use some of our own money from Calne town council to make repairs.

“It hasn’t been the town’s responsibility since 1974 and it’s a really good thing for us to be able to rebuild it as we wish but it is listed so we have to be careful.”

He added: “We’ve got a lot of volunteers in Calne who’ve got community groups that could use it.

“There are probably 50 or 60 community groups.

“It might be valuable as a youth centre for example.

“It is too small to be used as a fire and ambulance station now.

“The improvements will take a while but I hope in the next year or so it’ll be there for community use.”