Plans for a new multi-million-pound sports and leisure centre for Keswick are finally moving out of the crawl lane.
Allerdale Borough Council is actively seeking to hire consultants and has set aside a maximum budget of £40,000 to help make the case for a major new complex for the town.
Residents are pressing not just for a pool and gym but a multi-purpose facility boasting studios, meeting rooms, a sports hall, a 3G pitch and soft play area.
The existing pool and small gym suite at the Station Road site was constructed in 1987 with an intended lifespan of 25 years.
The authority permanently closed the 35-year-old centre 13 months ago amid reports of mounting repairs and losses exacerbated by the pandemic.
Allerdale is now looking for specialist contractors to draw-up an all-important feasibility study, options appraisal and business case.
The top document will be handed over as a “priority project” to the Cumberland Council which takes office next April, and will also be pivotal in unlocking important funding doors with national organisations with an interest in funding leisure provision.
The original closure sparked a mass public outcry and led to political pressure from Keswick and committee-room argy bargy with concerns that time was running out to get a serious “shovel ready” plan in place before Allerdale is lost to local government re-organisation.
Cllr Markus Campell-Savours, a Keswick Labour councillor, has been at loggerheads with the Conservative-run council ever since the closure, but said this week that its move to appoint contractors is a major positive.
He said: “I know it has been slow and I wanted this process to happen much quicker but what is happening now is really quite important in getting us to where we need to be.
“Allerdale are now doing the right thing and I just wish they had shown a greater sense of urgency. To now have the chance of consultants compiling an options appraisal is a great opportunity for us as we can now show what Keswick wants.
“The people of Keswick want far more than the existing facility and I hope they will continue to help me make the case for a new one. We are going to get there, it’s a question of how quickly we get there.”
He and others know that vital money to fund a new leisure centre is far from in the bag. The incoming unitary authority joins Allerdale, Copeland and Carlisle together into a super-council with competition for projects across Carlisle, Workington and Whitehaven.
Cllr Campbell-Savours is hopeful the newly-elected Labour administration, voted in during the May elections, will look favourably on the lack of leisure provision in Keswick and deem the project “high priority” to be taken forward.
Cllr Steve Harwood, who chairs the Friends of Keswick Leisure group (FOKL), also welcomed the gear change from Allerdale.
But he said concerns remain over how long the process might drag on for. “As a group, we feel quite strongly that there should be a means of getting our existing pool up and running while this is being sorted out as we are still talking months,” said Cllr Harwood.
Alternative options being explored by FOKL with Allerdale include a “pop-up” swimming pool provision as a stop-gap, either inside the existing building or outside it with appropriate covering.
Of whether the new council will take on the multi-million obligation, Cllr Harwood too is realistic that priority projects elsewhere in Cumberland will be knocking at the door wanting money.
But he said it was clear that there was massive public support for a new leisure centre for Keswick and the town had also made the argument that leisure provision had been taken away and not replaced.
Allerdale Borough Council said it is currently seeking quotations for the studies, options appraisal and business case for new leisure facilities.
The value of the contract is a maximum of £40,000 with a deadline for tender submissions of July 26.
A spokesman said: “The council remains fully committed to developing improved sports and leisure facilities in Keswick. The council has already carried out a full consultation with local residents, businesses and organisations.
“A full options appraisal will include details of the preferred facilities that will be on offer, the location, as well as the anticipated costs of any new leisure centre.”
