St Crispin’s Leisure Centre is set to be re-invigorated as a centre for education and community use following a decision by Wokingham Borough Council’s ruling executive last week.
Use of the facility on London Road had been declining since the Covid-19 pandemic, and following the opening of the nearby Wokingham Leisure Centre at Carnival Hub, so it was becoming commercially unviable.
Following last week’s decision, it will now be repurposed to provide much-needed extra school places – while continuing to offer important amenities for residents and community groups.
Subject to legal agreement, the centre will be transferred through an academy lease arrangement to the Circle Trust, which runs St Crispin’s School and others in the borough, to help it safely expand the school by providing 55 more pupils in Year 7 next year and in subsequent years.
The trust will convert parts of the centre into classrooms and use it in the school day, but it has committed to keep the existing community use, including specific sports like squash, outside school hours.
Cllr Prue Bray, executive member for children’s services, said: “With a growing pupil population and limited funding, we’ve got to find the most cost-effective ways to provide high-quality school places.
“Transferring a leisure centre that has falling usage to a good school is a perfect way to do that.
“It isn’t the only answer, as we have a £25 million expansion plan for schools across the borough, but it will give us greater certainty in providing quality school places for local children.”
This decision followed a public consultation which highlighted the importance of keeping community and some sporting use at the centre despite fewer users.
Cllr Stephen Conway, leader of Wokingham Borough Council, said: “We have a duty to make the best use of our assets, and I’m pleased that we’ve found a way to ensure its future for the whole community.
“I’d like to thank those who took part in the consultation, because their feedback has been vital in identifying what’s important to maintain at the centre where possible while also using it for vital school expansion.”
Detailed discussions will now take place with the Circle Trust and Places Leisure, which runs the council’s leisure centres, to agree the best way to continue sport and community use.
The trust can accommodate many activities that take place at St Crispin’s while Places Leisure will look at other locations it could use.
Cllr Ian Shenton, executive member for environment, sport and leisure, said: “I’ve been hugely encouraged by the flexibility shown by both the Circle Trust and Places Leisure in their response to the consultation and the community’s aspirations.
“St Crispin’s Leisure Centre was a fantastic facility, and I am grateful for the way it has been run by Places Leisure, but decreasing use could easily have led to closure – as has happened to other facilities around the country.
“That would have meant an end to community and sporting use at the centre for the wider public, but instead we are finding ways to meet the need for school places while keeping key public uses.”
