PROGRESS on the Vision for Trowbridge scheme could speed up next month as councillors are asked to start making decisions on town centre sites.

Meanwhile the first casualty of the project looks to be the Civic Hall, with Wiltshire County Council directors admitting a new state-of-the-art hall is looking increasingly unlikely.

In a letter from environmental services boss George Batten to Trowbridge Town Council clerk Doug Ross, the council director has called for decisions to be made on three key issues, including the Civic Hall.

Mr Batten has given town councillors a fortnight to make up their minds over where the authority's future home will be.

The list of demands have been met with dismay, with officers likely to tell Mr Batten they need more time.

Taking over the former town hall could cost up to £2m, with the running costs and future use still unclear. Consultants have been commissioned to compile a report, but it is unfinished.

Town clerk Doug Ross said: "We as a town council cannot answer the questions in this timescale.

"It is really too early to discuss whether we should take over the town hall. The first thing is to find out the costs and for the council to look at these costs, and at the same time we as officers have to be looking at ways in which money can be attracted from outside for such a project."

In addition to a decision on the town hall's future, Mr Batten wants the town council to decide whether a move to County Hall is still an option.

Town and county councillor Jeff Osborn said any decisions must be 'measured and costed'.

A report will go before Wiltshire County Council's cabinet on July 16, outlining the costs involved in shifting Bythesea Road to allow a potential cinema project on the site of Trowbridge library.