Decision to proceed is recommendation for Shrewsbury Sports Village plan
A decision to move forward with a £28 million scheme to upgrade swimming and leisure facilities in Shrewsbury will be considered by Shropshire Council next week.
The proposal to develop a “competition standard” pool at Shrewsbury Sports Village (SSV) on Sundorne Road will go before Shropshire Council’s Cabinet on September 11, following an eight-week public consultation on the proposals which gathered over 1,300 responses.
If approved by cabinet, the proposals will go to full council for permission to proceed with the design phase of the project, which is estimated to cost an initial £2.25m.
As well as the improved swimming facilities, the proposal includes a new 130 station fitness-suite, new dance studio and a new 30 station cycling 'spin' studio alongside upgrades to changing facilities and reception areas.
The council says 20 per cent of the scheme’s costs will be funded by its capital programme, with the remainder provided by government backed loan schemes and other sources of grant funding.
“The proposed approach will maintain the current facilities at the SSV but add new facilities to create a multi-feature centre which is more appealing to a wider demographic, is more accessible, will attract greater revenue to be financially sustainable and be an energy efficient, all electric modern building,” said the report due to go before cabinet.
“In financial terms, the new facility is expected to recover sufficient new income to repay the borrowing and generate a modest budget saving.”
A total of 73 per cent of respondents to a public consultation held in the spring said they were satisfied with proposals for the new pool, with that figure climbing to 89 per cent of young people surveyed.
Concerns about accessibility and transport to the Sports Village were the main issue identified by the consultation, with 27 per cent of concerns relating to transport and parking issues.
The development would take an estimated three years to be completed to opening, including a year for the design and planning phase and a further two years for construction works.
The council has reiterated that a future decision on swimming facilities at the Quarry pool in Shrewsbury would not be affected by the SSV scheme, which some councillors and campaigners had suggested would be a “death knell” for the popular town centre pool after the council admitted that both sites currently offered “poor financial viability”.
“At the cabinet meeting in January 2024, it was stressed that no decision has been made regarding the future of the Quarry facility, and this message was stressed throughout the public consultation,” the report added.
“The position remains the same, and the Council will look at future options for the Quarry site once the SSV project is sufficiently advanced, which would be subject to a separate consultation in due course.”
