£20m leisure centre – further consultation

Newcastle City Council received more than 500 responses when it unveiled draft plans and artist’s impressions for a proposed complex in West Denton.

A series of events were held to explain the proposals, and with the first phase of consultation now over, the council is preparing to feed back the results of the consultation in a second and final phase of events before a planning application is submitted at the end of this month.

Cabinet Member for Community Services and Public Engagement, Cllr Irim Ali, said:

“We had an amazing response to the consultation attracting over 500 responses. It shows the level of excitement there is around this project.

“Of the 500 responses, 425 were through the online survey on our Let’s Talk Newcastle website, 68 were on Facebook and there were 44 completed surveys sent directly to us, nine online and 35 on paper.

“We are now holding a second round of events to feedback people’s comments showing how we have listened and amended our plans to accommodate some of those requests.

“This demonstrates the power of consultation and how local communities can shape projects like this in their area. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to take part.”

From Monday March 14 to Thursday March 17, a further eight consultation events will take place online and face-to-face. Six will be with residents and a further two with sports clubs, followed by schools and youth clubs.

New things under consideration from public suggestions include:

• Increasing the size of the pool from six lanes to eight
• Extending opening hours
• Ensuring free parking
• Having rooms for hire for parties
• Reducing the amount of glass in the design to improve privacy
• Ensuring that memberships are all affordable

Once the planning application is submitted to the council at the end of this month, a contractor will be appointed (pending planning permission) and if granted permission, work is expected to start on site in September with construction hoped to be complete in March 2024 and the centre open in the summer 2024.

Consultation stage 2 timetable

14 – 18 March