PLANS to demolish Malmesbury Town Hall look set to be submitted by owners North Wiltshire District Council.

An unpopular £1.3million proposal to redevelop the building, which would have cut the public space in the town by half, was thrown out by the council's executive two weeks ago.

The council said it no longer wanted ownership of the building and gave the town three months to come up with an alternative solution or risk the hall being sold off.

A new development is now being put together by a trust of local interest groups, including the Civic Trust, the town council and Malmesbury Pre-school that is based in the town hall. The trust would be given the hall for £1, if successful.

But a planning application to demolish the hall was needed to kick start the process, said the chairman of the district council's Malmesbury Area one committee, Toby Sturgis.

He said: "To start the ball rolling one needs a planning application to demolish the building, keeping the facade.

"If one does not establish that principle nothing will go forward."

English Heritage said last week it wanted the Grade II-listed structure, which is an amalgamation of four different buildings, preserved. The only way it would give its blessing for demolition was if it could be proven the town hall was not viable on the open market by putting it up for sale.

Mr Sturgis said that submitting plans to demolish the building now would mean that no further time was wasted by the time suitable redevelopment plans were formed and English Heritage had agreed there were no buyers.

Ian Pollard, the owner of the Abbey House Garden's who is chairing the trust, said it agreed it was the best next move.

He said: "I think it is the best way forward. The whole point is we don't want to demolish the exterior and wish to retain the outside elevations, but it is the inside that is causing the problem."

But he said if any buyers came forward it must be made clear that any sale was reliant on the building continuing to serve the public.

There has been little investment in the town hall by the district council over the past five years because its intention has always been to completely refurbish the building.

Just to continue in its present form, the hall needs a £500,000 cash injection to conform with new disability legislation to be introduced in September.

Mr Sturgis said it was important to make sure there was a plan in place by then. "When we get to October this year, if the building has to be closed, what plans there are to house the pre-school and other groups will have to be known," he said.

Other problems the hall has is a leaky roof and poor electrics and plumbing. The hall currently needs to be subsidised. Money made from local groups hiring the hall comes in at £10,000 per year but this figure is outstripped by the £60,000 it costs to maintain the building.

There will be a meeting of the area committee on Wednesday in Chippenham to decide whether to submit the demolition plans.

Mayor of Malmesbury Charles Vernon said: "I think demolishing the building is really the only way forward. We need to have a building that fits the requirements of the community.

"We have to come up with a radical solution and that is what we are trying to do. It sounds very dramatic, hopefully we will end up with something better."

Malmesbury Pre-school has been based at the hall for around 30 years. Chairman Jan Hendry said: "If there is a proposal for community space to be put there it would be wonderful in the long run. We have terrible concerns not only about the way forward but also the possible loss of community space for everybody in Malmesbury."