St Nicholas Park Leisure Centre upgrade expected

A multi-million pound project to refurbish two leisure centres is expected to start next month.



The £13m scheme for St Nicholas Park Leisure Centre in Warwick and Newbold Comyn Leisure Centre in Leamington Spa is due to be approved on Wednesday.

If it gets the go-ahead, work on the first site would start in weeks.

Plans include new gyms and fitness studios, new changing areas, energy efficient lighting and new reception areas with "hotel-style" desks.

Warwick District Council is in the process of trying to find an outside partner to manage the two leisure centres.

A report to members said: "Without this work, the leisure centres would become "not fit for purpose", attendances would fall, and the concession fee paid to the council by the operator would fall substantially."

Controversial leisure centre refurbishment underway



A CONTROVERSIAL multi-million pound refurbishment of St Nicholas Park and Newbold Comyn Leisure Centres is underway.

Councillors agreed for work to go ahead on the £14.5 million development, despite many objections from residents who disliked the idea of mixed-gender changing rooms.

The new pool and gym at Newbold Comyn will open in summer but completion of other facilities will take until the end of the year. They include a new sports hall, fitness studios, mixed-gender changing rooms and a cafe.

Nicholas Park is also being extended to house a new 80 station gym and two new fitness studios. The swimming pool and changing rooms will be completely replaced alongside various refurbishments to the swimming pool and sports hall.

Warwick District Council spokesman for culture, Coun Michael Coker said: “Work has now started at both leisure centres and I’m pleased to say things are progressing well. We appreciate that closing both swimming pools at the same time has caused inconvenience, but it means we can complete the works much quicker and reopen brand new, state of the art facilities by the end of the year.”

The council are also spending some £30,000 seeking a contractor to run the facilities rather than running them in house. They say they are in the final stages of procuring an operator and they expect the contract to begin this summer.