THE future of Aston House sheltered accommodation in Pewsey remains undecided, according to Sarsen Housing Association.

The latest organisation to become embroiled in the long-running debate over the future of the warden-controlled bedsits and flats is the Pewsey Area Community Trust, set up to improve the vitality of the area through encouraging new business and better housing.

Although Sarsen maintains that it is holding talks with Aston House residents, the housing association says that, in common with other landlords, it is finding great difficulty in letting units where bathrooms have to be shared. Currently, Aston House is half empty.

But PACT chairman Marilyn Day said Sarsen had delayed the decision about the future of the building for far too long. Coun Day, also a member of Pewsey Parish Council, said: "It's obviously upsetting for the residents not knowing what their future is."

For several years, the parish council has been receiving complaints from Aston House residents who are worried that they might be forced to leave.

Pewsey has no other sheltered accommodation for the elderly.

Some elderly Aston House residents have said they feared being moved from Pewsey into old people's homes in Ludgershall or Burbage.

Sarsen spokesman Philip Mackie said the problem at Aston House was its design, with most of the 34 units being bedsits and only one or two being self-contained flats.

He said: "This is a countrywide problem with buildings like this. The long and the short of it is that people nowadays do not like this kind of accommodation."

Mr Mackie said that if all the accommodation at Aston House was flats, Sarsen would have no trouble letting them. He said: "We are talking to the Aston House residents while at the same time seeing what the housing needs of the area are."

Coun Day said PACT members shared the concern of Aston House residents over the future of the building.

The PACT is now calling upon Sarsen to reach a speedy decision in consultation with the tenants.

Coun Day said: "It's a smashing place surrounded by gardens and with the bungalows for old people just across the green. They don't need to put bathrooms in all the bedsits. What they need are little shower rooms en suite. I am sure this could be done."

"If they want more accommodation for couples, they could knock two bedsits into one bigger place. There is no reason to pull it down; the building is perfectly good."

In a letter to Coun Day, Sarsen's community support manager, Marian Campbell, said it was planned to hold a series of roadshows to advertise where vacancy rates were high 'in the hope that this might generate the interest level that is needed to ensure the survival of schemes affected.'

Another Sarsen property, Erskine House in Ludgershall, is failing to attract tenants for the same reason as Aston House and could well be rebuilt. But Mr Mackie said that no decision had yet been made on Aston House.