Wiltshire Air Ambulance has received outline planning consent to build a new base which will enable its helicopter to reach any part of the county within 11 minutes.
The scheme, on a 12.5-acre site at Semington, near Melksham, will bring the helicopter, aircrew and charity team together in one location for the first time. 
The new development will include the charitable trust’s administrative base, operational offices, multifunctional training facilities and ancillary spaces as well as the helicopter hangar, secure medical storage, helipad, approach strip, fuelling and vehicle wash facilities.
Following Wiltshire Council’s approval of the scheme, which has been designed by Corsham architects CMS Group, Wiltshire Air Ambulance (WAA) is to obtain local people’s views on the proposed design before submitting a reserved matters planning application to the council.
The WAA’s helicopter and aircrew are based at a hangar at Wiltshire Police headquarters in Devizes while the charity team works at of offices on the Porte Marsh Industrial Estate, Calne.
The lease on the hangar runs out on December 31 next year with the lease on the offices running out a month later. The outline planning application received no objections.
The new headquarters will cost up to £4m, of which WAA hopes to raise £1m through a capital appeal. The remainder will be funded by a private benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous.
WAA head of operations Kevin Reed said: “We searched for over a year to find the most suitable site to build our new home and we carried out extensive public consultation before we submitted our outline planning application.
“The site will enable us to have full control over the land and be future-proof. As Melksham does not have an ambulance station, we believe that Wiltshire Air Ambulance would provide enhanced medical cover for the area. As well as responding in our helicopter our paramedics, who have advanced medical skills, can also respond to emergencies such as road traffic collisions, heart attacks and strokes in a rapid response vehicle.
“Now we will work on the detailed design of our new home and information on the public consultation we will undertake will be announced in due course.”
