Victoria Geake and GraceMalmesbury Maternity Unit is to reopen again on January 17, and it can't come soon enough for mothers whose hopes of giving birth there were dashed after it temporarily shut down.

Debbie Pugh-Jones, communication manager of Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust, said the unit would reopen on this date subject to no staff going off sick.

The PCT announced the unit would close for approximately six weeks because of staff shortages last month only one week after it granted a 12 month reprieve.

Some 17 mothers who were booked for delivery at Malmesbury were asked to go to Greenways Maternity Unit at Chippenham Community Hospital, The Princess Anne Wing at The Royal United Hospital in Bath and Great Western Hospital in Swindon.

First-time mother Charlotte Bellamy, 28, from Avening, near Tetbury said the unit's future must now be safeguarded.

Mrs Bellamy chose to give birth in Chippenham, but following labour difficulties, was transferred to Bath.

On December 28 she gave birth to her son Henry. She said: "The staff in Bath were all very friendly and helpful but I was just one of a herd mothers. It was not a cosy experience and very clinical."

Malmesbury mum Victoria Geake, 28, was also forced to have her Boxing Day baby, Grace Elizabeth, delivered at Bath.