CHARITY workers battling to save a nature centre project in Trowbridge have received a £50,000 boost.

The Hope Nature Centre has been awarded a grant of £50,633 from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Committee members hope the grant will persuade West Wiltshire District Council to reverse a decision to withdraw the lease for use of land at Southwick Country Park, which was made in September.

Centre chairman June Fleming said: "We have now got more than enough to start the building work. We have full planning permission, we have the builders on board and it is all subject to this lease.

"We have given the council everything we were asked for. There is no reason why we shouldn't get the lease."

Work has been going on to get the project off the ground for four years and nearly £200,000 has been raised to fund it.

The council withdrew its offer of a lease on the 12-acre site, saying the charity had not met all the conditions it had been asked to.

Mrs Fleming said: "A mammoth amount of work has gone into this and for the lease to be withdrawn at the last minute like that was a great shock.

"We have bent over backwards to meet the council's demands. We have done everything we can do."

As well as being a facility for local people and tourists the centre, which has won the backing of townspeople and west Wiltshire MP Dr Andrew Murrison, would provide jobs for 40 people with learning difficulties.

It would include a tearoom, shop, nature trail and a small nursery. The council has ordered a leisure and recreational needs survey of west Wiltshire and the cabinet has agreed that, except in exceptional circumstances, plans for large areas of open space will not be considered until the survey has been completed.

The charity has said it may have to look for a site outside the county if work is not allowed to go ahead at the country park.

The cabinet is due to make a decision on whether to grant the lease at a meeting to be held on February 9.

The nature centre is one of town mayor Grace Hill's chosen charities.

She said: "I am just hoping that this group of people, who have been so hard working and have had so many disappointments, have their wishes fulfilled.

"People with learning difficulties don't get enough opportunities, which is very upsetting for them and their families. They are perfectly capable and have a lot to offer.

"The sooner the centre is up and running the better.