Farnborough's new leisure centre is another step closer, as Rushmoor Borough Council’s latest designs go on show for the public ahead of a detailed planning application to be submitted in the autumn.
The council will be sharing its latest designs for Farnborough’s new leisure centre as part of a pre-planning application public consultation which will be launching on Monday 30 June.
The consultation will run until Friday 25 July, with the latest information available to view and for comment online at the https://new-farnborough-leisure-centre.co.uk (from 30 June).
There will also be three drop-in sessions for people to see the designs, chat to the team, and give their comments. These will be taking place on:
- Thursday 3 July at the council offices, Farnborough, 2pm to 7pm
- Monday 7 July, at the council offices, Farnborough, 9am to midday
- Saturday 12 July, at the Princes Mead shopping centre, Farnborough (on the Asda side) 10am to 1pm
The new centre is set to include a 25-metre swimming pool and learner pool, along with a gym offering more than 100 fitness stations including specialist power-assisted equipment for people who are less mobile or active, studio space, a spin studio, soft play and a café.
Councillor Sophie Porter, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Healthy Communities and Active Lives at Rushmoor Borough Council said: “We know that our residents want to see a new leisure centre and swimming pool in Farnborough and moving ahead with the planning application will be a key milestone in this journey. We are working very hard to bring the centre forward for everyone as soon as we can and so that we can get on with building it. Providing everyone with local opportunities for exercise, improved wellbeing and social connection is a priority for us and the new leisure centre will be a key part of this effort, designed to bring people together in an affordable and inclusive space for fitness, swimming and recreation.”
Councillor Porter added: “We hope that local people can make it along to one of our drop-in sessions to see the revised plans and give us feedback. We will be submitting the planning application in the autumn, and we hope that building work can get started early next year.”
Earlier this year, the council’s cabinet agreed a revised approach to delivering the new leisure centre and swimming pool when it became clear that the previous plans would be unaffordable to the council. The government also gave the go ahead for the remainder of the £20 million of Levelling Up grant funding originally allocated to a previous scheme to be used to progress the revised project.
The revised proposals have taken on feedback from earlier public engagement exercises and the council’s recent active lives survey where local people were asked for their thoughts on being active and the types of activity they like being involved in.
To ensure that the new leisure centre and swimming pool will be more accessible, the council’s revised plans are for it to be built on the current Queensmead surface car park, closer to public transport, and with parking provided on the neighbouring Pinehurst car park site. The relocation presents the opportunity for the council to explore alternative uses for the former leisure centre site and realise much-needed housing. The Meads multi-storey car park would be available as the main town centre shopping car park during the building work.
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