Residents asked for views on location of new Rainham leisure centre
Sports lovers and health-conscious residents in the south of the borough have been asked their views as Havering Council kick-starts a community conversation on where the new leisure centre should go.
Following the closure of the Chafford Sports Complex in June, the Council has been working with leisure centre provider SLM to find a new site for a brand new replacement facility.
The new leisure centre, which will have a dance and spinning studio, 72-station fitness suite and six-lane swimming pool, will be a modular design, meaning it can be built quickly. Council officers have looked at a similar building – Becontree Heath Leisure Centre in Dagenham – when developing proposals.
Havering Council has identified two sites which could feasibly host the new centre – a site on the Havering College grounds off New Road and a site partly occupied by a recreation ground next to the Council’s Viking Way car park. The Council’s preferred site is the recreation ground as the leisure centre can be built quicker and more economically there. Whereas the Havering College site will not come up for potential purchase until 2021, the recreation ground site could be fully developed as a leisure centre and in use by then.
Councillor Damian White, Leader of Havering Council, said:
"Access to quality sporting facilities should be a right for everyone – not just for the privileged. That’s why I’m delighted our Council is committed to providing a state-of-the-art brand new leisure centre in the south of the borough.
"“We have two sites where we think a new leisure centre might work but now we need a conversation with local residents to gauge what they think.
“The site identified next to the public car park off Viking Way is the one that can be developed quickest to deliver a new leisure centre in 2021 and with new green space we commit to providing elsewhere in Rainham, including a children’s play area, we think it is the best proposal. But we want local people to tell us what they think.”
Information drop-in sessions will be held in Rainham Library on:
- 11 November, 5pm - 7.30pm
- 15 November, 10am - midday
- 15 November, 2pm - 4.30pm
Residents are also asked to give their views by answering an online survey.