Tidworth Town Council has announced that the new civic centre, for which construction began in 2022, is now complete and ready for council services to move in.

Plans were approved for the new civic centre in 2021 with construction on the £7.3m project beginning in July of 2022 with an anticipated opening date of August 2023.

The completion and move-in dates of the new civic centre were delayed from the originally stated August 2023 due to several factors.

Tidworth town councillor Mark Connolly said: “There were several reasons for the delay. Firstly, the build started slightly later than planned due to pre-commencement conditions that were completed later than expected.

"Secondly, seven weeks delay was caused by the larger amount of contaminated ground than our pre-commencement surveys suggested.

"Thirdly, the contract stated that the handover would not take place before and during the festive period. Lastly, there is a gap of three weeks between completion and the opening of the centre whilst it is handed over and furniture, etc. is installed.”

Tidworth Town Council took to Facebook on Thursday, January 18 to inform residents that staff will be facilitating the move during the week of Monday, January 22 to Friday, January 26, with operations based out of the new building as of Monday, January 29.

During the transition, the council said that its offices would not be reachable by telephone as systems are being switched over, but would remain available during its regular office hours of 9am to 1pm, Monday through Friday, via its website, email, Facebook Messenger and Instagram.