DEVIZES Guides have come a step closer to their dream of a purpose-built Guiding centre for the area after a landowner offered them a two-acre site.

The Guides have been raising money for a new home for the last five years and the Devizes and District Guiding Building Fund currently stands at more than £40,000.

But their major obstacle was finding a piece of land in the area suitable to build the centre with enough area around it to host outdoor activities for the 180 Guides, Brownies and Rainbows in the district.

Gaynor Mapp, secretary of the fund as well as being Guider at the 4th Devizes Guides, said: "I decided we had to take the bull by the horns and took a year off fundraising to write to all the people in the area who might be able to help us. I wrote more than 100 letters."

As a result, she was approached by the local landowner, who has asked not to be identified, who offered the 1.25- hectare site at Gypsy Patch on Coate Road for the new centre. The Guides would have it on a 99-year lease at a peppercorn rent.

Now the Guides must get over the next hurdle persuading Kennet District Council to grant planning permission for the centre, despite it being in open countryside.

Initial discussions have revealed that planning officers have concerns over an increased use of cars.

Mrs Mapp said: "Most of our girls live in the Jump Farm area so would be able to walk to the new centre.

"We are asking parents to write to Kennet District Council in support of our application. The more letters they receive, the more the councillors might be persuaded to approve our application."

The Guides first started looking for a new permanent home in 1998 when the county council indicated it wanted to close London Road Youth Centre to save money. Although they were given a reprieve, the Guides wanted a permanent centre in which they could be secure. The £40,000 has been raised through countless events including a sell-out concert last year.

To support the application, write to Karen Whittington at Kennet District Council, Browfort, Bath Road, Devizes SN10 2AT, quoting ref. K/045975/O.