DETAILED plans of the new proposed home of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance (WAA) have finally been submitted.

The new base, situated on land at Outmarsh Farm, Semington, near Melksham, will bring together WAA’s helicopter, aircrew and charity team onto a single site for the first time.

The charity was granted outline planning permission for the site in February this year by Wiltshire Council and it carried out public consultation on the proposed design of the centre in June.

The site, which will be around 1,500 square metres at Outmarsh Farm, is ideally situated in the centre of Wiltshire.

This will allow the helicopter to reach all parts of the county within 11 minutes, which could save crucial time in responding to emergency calls.

Kevin Reed, head of operations at WAA, said: “The response we had to our proposed plans for our new home during our latest public consultation was overwhelmingly supportive.

“We currently lease a hangar at police headquarters in Devizes for our helicopter and aircrew and we rent offices in Calne for our charity team.

“Having a purpose-built facility will enable us to have full control over our future and bringing together the aircrew and the charity team onto one site will improve our service.

“As Melksham does not have an ambulance station, we believe that Wiltshire Air Ambulance would provide enhanced medical cover for the area.

“Our paramedics are trained in critical care skills and as well as responding in our helicopter, they can also respond to emergencies such as road traffic collisions, heart attacks and strokes in a Rapid Response Vehicle (car).”

The new planning application can be viewed online at wiltshire.gov.uk with the reference number 16/09699/FUL.