THE FUTURE of a leisure centre in Wokingham town is to be explored by the borough council.
Options for the London Road-based St Crispin’s Leisure Centre include closure, demolition, handing the land over to a school, or creating a new housing development.
A meeting of Wokingham Borough Council’s executive committee on Thursday, June 29, will vote on whether a consultation should be launched into the site.
Documents prepared for the meeting states there has been a “decline in numbers” of users.
“The leisure centre has seen a decline in numbers since re-opening post pandemic particularly in our over 60s demographic,” the document continues, adding that the opening of the nearby Carnival Leisure Centre in July last year “has also had an impact on member use”.
The consultation would involve asking users and members of St Crispin’s Leisure Centre, residents and businesses, and St Crispin’s, Wescott and Westende schools for their views.
One option says the council could “dispose” of the site with the “potential” that it could be replaced by a new housing development.
Another says the land and the building could be handed over to The Circle Trust – the academy chain that owns St Crispin’s school. The council says this would allow the school to take on more pupils – as demand for school spaces in the borough has increased beyond what it expected.
It also says the school has raised “safety concerns” over the shared parking facilities and vehicular access with the leisure centre. And it notes the school has “right of use” of the centre’s facilities.
Other options include demolishing the building and keeping the land until its value increases, or until the council finds another use for it. The site could also become a special educational needs and disabilities facility.
The council admits that closing St Crispin’s Leisure Centre would mean a “loss of leisure facility for local residents.”
This includes losing the borough’s only publicly-owned squash courts.
It would also need to show “special justification” for losing a community facility in any future application for planning permission.
The council could decide to keep the leisure centre open, adding that the building is “in good condition and expected to last for the next 20 years.”
If the Executive agrees, the consultation is expected run for eight weeks between July and late August this year.
