A planned £7.5 million transformation of a South Lakeland leisure centre is set to take a major step forward at a council meeting this week.
South Lakeland District Council’s cabinet has been advised to approve the receipt of £2 million from GlaxoSmithKline for the development of a new facility in Ulverston’s Priory Road.
A study conducted by authority with consulting firm FMG suggested a phased approach to the project.
Phase one, estimated to cost around £1.8 million and to be supported by the GSK money, would include the provision of three football pitches, changing facilities, a remodelled indoor tennis centre, an ‘informal running route’ and crown green bowling green.
Phases two and three, set to cost a total of around £5.7 million, would include a new six-lane swimming pool and refurbishment of the existing all-weather hockey pitch. These two phases would be supported by revenue from the new facility, ‘prudential’ borrowing and, potentially, grant funding.
A report from David Sykes, director of strategy, innovation and resources at the council, produced ahead of Wednesday’s cabinet meeting says the leisure centre project would also be a means of relocating facilities at the current GSK site in Ulverston to Priory Road.
Operations at the pharmaceutical giant’s South Lakeland site are set to wind down in three years’ time.
Mr Sykes says relocation of GSK’s leisure facilities would ‘release land for future employment use’.
He acknowledges that the leisure centre proposals have ‘faced challenges’ regarding estimated costs exceeding funding likely to be available.
His report said: “The consultation with the NHS and local surgeries revealed an exciting opportunity for the old swimming pool site should it become vacant in the future.
“The demand for health services in Ulverston is outstripping supply, with current surgeries full.”
The project would include some losses, however. Mr Sykes’s report says the existing squash court at GSK would not be replaced ‘nor the provision of a play area at Priory Road’.
Mr Sykes advises cabinet to approve the progression of the first phase of the leisure site project, with detailed proposals for phases two and three to be submitted to the future unitary Westmorland and Furness Council.
Actions that would need to be taken to facilitate phase one include the securing of planning consent for the football pitches and bowling green.
