Agenda item

This report provides an update on the current progress of the Leisure Centre project.

The Working Group received a report and a presentation from the Principle Landscape and Group Head of Community Wellbeing. This set out the completion of work to the Littlehampton Wave Leisure Centre.

A summary of the updates is set out below;

§  The Littlehampton Wave Leisure Centre was opened on 29 March 2019

§  Littlehampton Sports and Swimming Centre (LSSC) had been previously built in 1982 and a life span of 30 years, so the upgrade was 7 years overdue.

§  The Sports Dome had been built as a temporary structure

§  In 2013 the Leisure Strategy was adopted, and a detailed feasibility study was undertaken in 2015

§  Willmott Dixon Construction was appointed under the Southern Construction Framework

§  The location of the new Centre is in Mewsbrook Park 

§  The original concept of design was maintained

§  The Sports Dome demolition took place in July 2017

§  The old LSSC structure will be demolished within 6 months of the new building being finished as stated in the Planning conditions

§   Materials from the old building are being recycled and used on site

§  Children and young people had been given opportunities for work experience and apprenticeships. STEM Sussex had also been involved and offered children and young people a range of educational experiences.  The Arun Youth Aqua Centre also benefited from a relocated and enhanced compound.

§  Added benefits from the new building will see it generating an income for the Council. Early visitor numbers suggest that there is already more active community enjoying the activities the new building has to offer.

§  The new centre will enhance Mewsbrook Park which has already achieved a green flag park status and the reinstatement work will further raise the profile of the park.

The following questions/comments by the Working Group were made: -

§  Councillor Chapman offered his congratulations to the whole team on completion of this project. He then asked if there were figures in relation to energy saving costs from the new building in comparison to the old building. The Group Head of Community Wellbeing explained that the performance data was not available at present, however Freedom Leisure have confirmed that it was performing better than the old building which was a much smaller facility. Councillor Chapman then asked for assurance that there would be no threat to the walkway in response to any further alterations to the car park. It was confirmed that the location of the central walkway would remain as indicated on the master plan.

§  In respect to customer numbers, it was confirmed that the number of people going through the tills had increased by 37%, equivalent to 12,000 people a month.

§  Councillor Mrs Worne was full of praise for the new building, explaining to the Committee that it housed special waterproof wheelchairs so that wheelchair users could be lowered into the pool and that the changing rooms allowed her to be completely independent as a wheelchair user. 

§  It was stated that the Littlehampton Wave was a facility for the benefit of all residents in Arun, but Councillor Ms Thurston wanted to understand more about any impact on Arun Leisure Centre at Felpham. It was explained the statistics were not available for the first quarter, but the leisure operator had not indicated that the Arun Leisure Centre had been significantly affected It was noted that the Arun Leisure Centre had received significant investment in recent years, but the ‘wet’ changing rooms particularly were in need of refurbishment.

§  Councillor Gunner was concerned that reusing recycled materials on the demolition site may result in problems for future generations.  It was explained that the recycling of materials on site was in accordance with guidelines and reduced the environmental impact of moving materials to landfill and bringing in large amounts of material.

The Chairman thanked the Principal Landscape Officer and the Group Head of Community Wellbeing for the update which was then noted by the Working Group.