NEWS that the hospitality facilities at Lydiard Park will be closed from January with no future bookings being taken has led to calls for an acceleration in the bidding process.

Swindon Borough Council invited bids to take over the running of the popular house and park in order to reduce their financial commitment to the site.

They had planned to name their preferred bidder this month but the triggering of a six month moratorium by the Love Lydiard Trust has caused an unexpected delay.

It means that a preferred bidder is now not expected to be named until January 2017.

However, it has recently emerged that January will also see the withdrawal of hospitality management firm Chartridge from the conference centre and house with bookings no longer being taken for any date after January 5.

The prospect of taking over control of a site with no functioning hospitality provision is a significantly more challenging proposition for an incoming organisation than one which involves the continued growth of an existing facility.

Mike Bowden, Chairman of the Lydiard Park Heritage Trust who are bidding to take over the site, said: “Surely any successful bidder hopes and expects to be able to take on a going concern at Lydiard’s conference centre when the current arrangements come to an end in January.

“It is probably the most important issue for the short to middle term financial position of which ever bidder wins.

“An empty order book and empty conference centre over a cold wet winter is very bad news for Swindon and everyone that cares for Lydiard.

“It is in no one’s interest, least of all Swindon Borough Council.”

A spokesman for Swindon Borough Council said: “We are aware of this and we are looking at the options as to how we can transfer from Chartridge to any new provider as smoothly as possible.”

An alternative to needing to find a new hospitality provider would be to consider moving the wider takeover process forward at a faster pace.

The six month moratorium prevents the council from doing a deal with a commercial bidder within that time frame but it does not stop them choosing to move forward with a community group.

With the clear sense across the council and local residents that a community bidder is very much the preferred option, councillors are being urged to consider getting on with the process.

Mr Bowden added: “The directors and trustees of the Lydiard Park Heritage Trust are ready, willing and able to start negotiations with Swindon Borough Council whenever they feel it is right to do so.“Given the rationale for the outsourcing process was based on their urgent need to eliminate the near £500,000 subsidy for Lydiard Park, we are somewhat surprised by their recent decision regarding the timetable.”

The other community bidder, the Love Lydiard Trust, was asked if they wished to comment for this story but did not provide a response.