Demolition looms for Goldiggers

At a meeting on Wednesday, Chippenham town councillors made no objections to the building in Timber Street being demolished and replaced with shops and food outlets on the ground floor, with flats above.

But a final decision will not be made until after a future meeting at the North Wiltshire District Council offices in Chippenham.

Members of the Preservation of Gaumont/Goldiggers (POGG) group say they will continue to fight for the building's preservation.

An application to English Heritage to get the building listed was thrown out but POGG has launched an appeal.

Campaigners have also outlined their concerns in a letter to the Secretary of State and are calling for a public meeting before a final decision on the building's future is made.

Member Paul Hargreaves said posters put up around the town to highlight the campaign had been ripped down, but said he was prepared to battle to the end. "I can't believe all the members of the council want to demolish this building," he said.

Town councillor Sylvia Doubell said although civic leaders would have rather seen the former cinema turned into a leisure facility, she was not against demolishing the building.

"It was explained that nobody in the leisure industry was interested in bidding for it," she said.

"We welcomed the fact that, although the building is being demolished, two of the panels in the faade will be retained and reused."

The future of Goldiggers has been in the balance since August 2000.

Some civic leaders have questioned why developer Tribecka Land Ltd was given the go-ahead, calling for a community-type project to take over the building instead.

But councillors have warned the building would fall into a worse state of disrepair if talks with the current developer fell through.

POGG has set up a vote line and a petition to pressurise decision-makers into retaining it.

To vote to preserve the building phone 0901 8930100 or 08700 634 178 for more information.