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New Queens Park Leisure Centre plans to be submitted
St. Helens Council and Cheshire-based designers Pozzoni are preparing to submit plans for the £3.6m Queens Park Leisure Centre in Merseyside next month.
The centre, which will replace the existing facility containing two swimming pools, a gym and sports courts, will comprise of a five-lane 25m swimming pool with steam and sauna facilities, a dry and wet changing village and a two-storey gym.
The existing sports hall will be refurbished and a new multi-purpose function room added, as well as a new café with pool viewing area and fitness studios.
Due to the age of the existing Queens Park facility and condition of the 118-year-old building the council said it would cost more to repair and maintain it than provide new, modern facilities.
A private developer intends to complement the new leisure centre with a £1.8m soccer centre offering third-generation five-a-side and seven-a-side floodlit synthetic pitches.
The council also plans to spend £500,000 on regenerating Queens Park, where the complex will be located. The proposals include building a new entrance complete with a water feature, refurbishing the bowling green and tennis courts and creating teenage and toddler play areas. There will also be a general activities space and an off-the-leash dog exercise area with perimeter fencing.
The council expects to repay the capital loan, used to fund the project, through the increase in revenue generated from increased customers and the savings created from operating a new building.
Leisure investment manager, David Pugh, said: “Queens Park will provide a valuable new sporting facility underpinning the council’s recently launched Active St Helens Strategy. This new facility will make a significant contribution towards getting more people active, improving their health and the well-being of the wider community.”
The centre was given the green light by the council's executive committee in 2007 to appoint Pozzoni to design and plan the development of the facility.