A 12-YEAR-OLD skateboarder admitted causing a fire that burned down a barn belonging to councillor Toby Sturgis, causing £40,000 damage.

Police are treating the fire at Brook Farm, Great Somerford, as arson and the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, from the area is helping with their inquiries.

Coun Sturgis, who was one of the councillors who voted to close the ramps at Monkton Park, Chippenham, was horrified when he drove home from a meeting on Thursday lunchtime and saw his 60ft barn ablaze, surrounded by fire engines.

A group of 12 and 13-year-olds had been in the barn and had been using a lighter to heat wax to put on their skateboards when they accidentally set fire to some hay.

They were seen running from the barn after it caught fire. Later one of the boys confessed to his parents.

Coun Sturgis, who is a county and North Wiltshire district councillor as well as a committee member of Swindon and Wiltshire Fire Authority, said he saw plumes of smoke high in the sky as he drove home.

"I knew no one was working there so there should not be a bonfire. By the time I got here it was all burning down," he said.

Coun Sturgis said he had not decided whether to press charges against the boy, but has asked for an investigation to be carried out by the fire authority into why there was a delay in help arriving following the first emergency call.

His 20-year-old daughter Niki dialled 999 on her mobile phone but she said it took ten minutes for the phone network to put her through to Wiltshire Fire Brigade's control room.

While holding on for an answer, she decided seek help and met a family friend who went into Malmesbury to alert fire crews. Four fire appliances finally arrived with a special water carrier and pumped water onto the flames.

Coun Sturgis said: "My daughter rang at 12.02 and it wasn't recorded at the fire control until 12.12.

"I had no idea but when you make a 999 call on a mobile it doesn't go through to the emergency services. It goes to the phone network and they decide where to send them. They actually said to my daughter 'Chippenham, Wiltshire, where's that'?"

A team of firefighters remained at the barn, which contained hay, four trailers, and a plough, for more than 28 hours in case the fire flared up again.

Coun Sturgis said it was not the first time that boys had played in his barn.

"I have spoken to the families of these people before," he said. "I told them how dangerous it is for the children to play in there. If one of the bales was to fall on top of a child that would be the end of them."

But Coun Sturgis, who in April pledged his Conservative group would prioritise providing a skateboard facility in Chippenham, also said boys would be boys. "This is what happens when it is half term," he added.