CHIPPENHAM NEWS: A COMMUNITY centre near Corsham could close two years after it was built because of crippling bills and dwindling profits.

Members of Rudloe Community Centre Association, which manages the building, held crisis talks on Wednesday because they fear the facility could be axed unless owners North Wiltshire District Council bail them out.

Utility bills running into thousands of pounds a year and loss-making tenant Rudloe Social Club have caused debts to spiral.

Community association secretary Kathi Goulding said: "We've had meetings with the council to see if they can help us but they seem loathe to put money into the community association.

"We're being crippled by high overheads our utility bills are £10,000 a year. We were meant to be a hi-tech building with low costs but we are a hi-tech building with high costs."

Mrs Goulding said unless the social club was thrown a lifeline it could spell the end of the village facility.

"We need to remedy the situation because if we lose the social club then we cannot afford to stay open," she said.

"They are our tenants and help us to cover costs like the utility bills."

The £850,000 community centre, which includes a hall, meeting room, bar and snooker room, is used by a range of groups and events such as a youth club and bingo.

Mrs Goulding said: "It is an enormously valuable facility for the community. If we lose it people will have nowhere to meet and talk. It's the only thing we've got on the estate."

Social club chairman Paul Townsend said he would look at ways of cutting costs, including reducing the wage bill, stopping live music on a Friday and hiking up the price of a pint by as much as 20p.

He said: "Tight expenditure controls give the club a fighting chance of continuing in business."

Residents had been pressing for a new community building for four years and the centre, which was funded by the district council, replaced the dilapidated Rudloe Social Club building which was bulldozed in 2002.

A spokesman for the district council said: "North Wiltshire District Council is currently involved in a series of meetings with the Rudloe Community Association to determine how we can assist in the future of the Rudloe Centre.

"The district council is disappointed the centre has not been as successful as we would have liked. We have invested a significant amount in providing the new centre and we remain committed to ensure that it is put to the best use by the whole community."