Green light given for Littlehampton's new leisure centre

Approval was given at an Arun District Council cabinet meeting to launch the scheme which will deliver the new centre and to appoint the project team responsible for the scheme.

The new leisure centre will open in 2019 under current plans and is set to offer an eight lane, 25-metre swimming pool, a learner pool with a moveable floor, a gym, a dance studio, a cycling studio, a four-court sports hall and a café.

It will be erected on the site of the current sports dome and overflow car park. The existing building will then be demolished and the space landscaped, with building scheduled to begin in 2017.

The public will be able to carry on using the current leisure centre while the new one is built.

Costs are estimated in the region of £16 million, including the build and fitting out costs, professional fees, demolition of the existing centre and landscaping of the site.

In October last year Freedom Leisure was handed a ten-year contract by Arun District Council to replace Inspire Leisure in running Littlehampton Swimming and Sports Centre, as well as Arun Leisure Centre (Felpham), Bersted Park Community Centre and The Windmill Entertainment Centre (Littlehampton).

Councillor Paul Dendle, Arun District Council’s Cabinet Member for Leisure and Amenities, said: “We are confident that the iconic new leisure centre will bring greatly-needed health benefits to Littlehampton by inspiring a new generation to take up sport, and encourage those who perhaps have got out of the habit of exercising to get active once again.

“The new centre will have the space and the range of facilities to meet the needs of the local population and its creation will avoid the expense of upgrading the existing building, which would have required extensive work.

“Now that the proposals have now been approved, we are looking forward to appointing a project team and seeing the designs take shape. This is an exciting time for Littlehampton.”

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