New Ashfield leisure centre gets £3m cash boost from Sports England and local enterprise partnership

Work on the £15.5m centre, next to the town’s Festival Hall, began in February with the opening planned for spring 2022.

The old Festival Hall site will also be demolished, with work expected to be concluded by autumn next year.

The council’s cabinet was told in a report presented at its last meeting that £1.5m had been secured from Sport England towards the project, with a further £1.5m expected from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership.

The remaining £12.5m will be provided from council coffers.

The report also revealed a further £265,000 for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to help it reopen leisure services in the district post-pandemic.

Everyone Active, which runs leisure centres in Ashfield, has since reopened Festival Hall, Lammas Leisure Centre in Sutton, and Hucknall Leisure Centre to the public.

The report states: “The council has been progressing with the replacement of the Festival Hall for several years. Following previously reported feasibility studies the existing site was chosen to be used for the development of the new facility.

The centre will bring brand new facilities, including a 25-metre community pool with moveable floor, sauna and steam rooms, fitness suite, clip and climb and adventure play.

In February, leader of the council, Coun Jason Zadrozny and chief executive Carol Cooper-Smith met with building contractor Kier to watch work commence on the new centre.

Speaking at the time, Coun Zadrozny said: “It’s an incredible feeling to be on site and start to see where the different parts of the leisure centre will be built.

“This project is something that the people of Ashfield have been long-promised and I am confident that in partnership with Kier, we will deliver a vibrant community-based facility that will rival any other in the country.”

Speaking about the project, Martin Williamson, operations manager at Kier Regional Building, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Ashfield District Council on this state-of-the-art new leisure facility, which will provide much-needed modernised facilities for local people.”

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