CRACKS have appeared in the £50,000 campaign to fight the Lord Chancellor's decision to close Trowbridge Magistrates Court for good.

Supporters want to raise £50,000 through a fighting fund to force a judicial review of the controversial decision and letters have been posted out to all parish, town and district councils in west Wiltshire and Kennet.

But a growing army of doubters believe the outcome is already set in stone, with the focus needing to be switched to how the historic building can be utilised in the future.

Wiltshire County Council has sanctioned a feasibility study looking into future uses of the building.

Although the council took over the building in the 1970s for use as a magistrates' court there are no plans to sell it to commercial buyers and it is likely to return to the public sector. Trowbridge town councillors had a heated debate about the issue at a meeting on Tuesday proving the splits in the campaign's main support network are already beginning to show.

Cllr Jeff Osborn said: "Assume we can take on and beat the Lord Chancellor where are we going to put this magistrates' court?

"By then the old town hall will be in use and we will have to start another fighting fund for a new building.

"The county council has agreed at cabinet to carry out a feasibility study with the express intention for it to return to the public sector. This is what we have to go for."

Cllr Osborn said it has become difficult for town councillors to talk about the future of the hall at county level because of the council's official stance supporting the fighting fund.

Cllr Graham Payne, who said the fund was battling against history, said: "I don't think any judicial review against the closure of a magistrates' court has ever been successful in the UK. We have to accept what is done is done."

Supporters of the fighting fund said the council needed to stand up for the county town or risk losing all the facilities in the oncoming swathe of regional government reforms.

Cllr Grace Hill said Trow-bridge had to stop "turning over and getting its tummy tickled" and fight for the cause.

Key supporter and former mayor Angela Milroy said she would battle to the end.

"We have said we are a rural area and are sick and tired of central government telling us how things should be run in our local area," she said.

Early suggestions for the future use of the former town hall include a registry office, town council offices, a library and a community one-stop shop.

The study results will be reported to county councillors in September.