Foleshill Sports and Leisure Centre to be closed

[rebbonk]

That means £360,000 of tax-payers money would be at risk...

I've said it before, if ar$eholes could fly, our council house would be an airport!

These muppets are talking about cuts everywhere, yet they go on like this. By God, I'd like to get rid of everyone of them in one go and replace them with people that will look after those that have elected them.

Bring back the days when being a councillor was done for the civic good, not the expenses.

[dutchman]

Foleshill Leisure Centre to be bulldozed despite last-ditch rescue attempt

A much-loved leisure centre will be demolished despite a last-ditch attempt to save the site for health and fitness use.

Foleshill Leisure Centre will be torn down after Coun Kevin Maton, Coventry City Council’s cabinet member for business, gave the green light to plans to convert the site into a NHS health centre.

However, it emerged during a cabinet member meeting today to discuss the plans that a local temple had approached the city council with proposals to keep the site operating as a leisure facility.

But the council snubbed that move in favour of demolishing the site at a cost of £360,000 to the taxpayer with a view to recouping the cost from developers Arden Estates Partnership (AEP).

The firm has now been granted six-month exclusive rights to the site, but there is no commitment to build a health centre. If AEP changed its plans it would mean £360,000 of taxpayers’ money would be at risk and the council would have to wait six months before it could talk to other interested parties.

But Coun Maton did agree to put AEP in touch with the local temple so back-up plans could be discussed.

He said: “We have agreed that AEP will be given the temple’s contact details. There’s an expectation that when you are given exclusivity you expect some degree of engagement with the local community.”

[rebbonk]

I can't help wondering if there's more to this than first appears.

[dutchman]

Former Coventry leisure centre site to become GP surgery and home for the mentally ill

The site of the former Foleshill Leisure Centre in Coventry is set to become a GP surgery and accommodation for people with mental illnesses.

Mental health charity Mind and developers Arden Estate Partnership have permission from Coventry City Council to build specialist housing for adults with mental health conditions.

The development will be on the site of the former leisure centre in Livingstone Road.

The building will be home to up to 14 adults providing support as well as accommodation.

The project is expected to create between 30 and 40 full time jobs.

Healthcare consultant for Coventry and Warwickshire Mind, Keith Woodall, said: “This will be for people with a range of mental health problems which means they have problems coping with everyday life.

“That could be managing medication or holding down a job.

“It won’t be a home for life. People would stay there for a maximum of two years which in mental health terms is quite short and they would get help to go back into education or work or an occupation.”

At the moment people needing the kind of specialist help to be provided at the development sometimes have to move hundreds of miles away from Coventry.

The people living in the building will each have a bedsit and will share kitchens, lounges, studies and activity rooms.

There will also be consulting rooms for those needing medical treatment on site.

Hopes are high the accommodation will be ready by summer 2017.

Last month Coventry City Council planners gave permission for a new GP surgery on the site which will be alongside the Mind accommodation.

The new surgery will replace the temporary GP surgery in nearby Station Road and will have three doctors, three nurses and six administration staff serving 10,000 patients.

The leisure centre, dating back to the 1930s, was closed in 2014 despite opposition from regular users.

The buildings were demolished soon afterwards and the site has been empty ever since.

It will be a so-called 'bail hostel' for people convicted of 'minor offences' who have drugs and alcohol problems. The previous one in Windsor Street was closed after a fight broke out in the street between inmates.

[rebbonk]

I suspect you are rather close to the truth Dutchman.