Piazza will feature in £8.8m leisure centre
A landscaped urban piazza will be one of the feature points of the planned new £8.8 million leisure centre for Tipton.
A landscaped urban piazza will be one of the feature points of the planned new £8.8 million leisure centre for Tipton.
More details of the scheme have been revealed in a design and access statement which has been submitted to Sandwell Council.
A planning application has been put in for the new development, which will stand at the junction of Alexandra Road and Thursfield Road and will replace Tipton Swimming Centre.
The community room at the centre will open out on to the piazza and have views of Workhouse Bridge.
The new centre will include a 25 metre six-lane pool, a teaching pool and changing village.
The first floor fitness suite will have 50 fitness stations and the community space will accommodate groups of up to 200 people.The proposed pool, if approved by borough planners, will be built on part of the Little Burton Estate in Tipton.
The land was formerly occupied by housing in the 1950s which has since been demolished.
It has also been used for industrial purposes and has a number of old shafts and lies adjacent to the Horseley Colliery.
A design and access statement submitted to the council says: "The council considers that this part of Tipton requires immediate attention to improve land that has suffered the ravages of its industrial past and the consequences of industrial pollution."
The report says that the existing swimming centre in Queens Road was built in the 1930s and has just 15 car parking spaces, while the new building will have 80 spaces.
"As is typical with all municipal swimming pools of its age, the building is now starting to require some significant items of repair in order to enable continuous service provision," it adds.
"The council has considered a number of options for the centre, including the refurbishment and further adaptation of the existing building, however, it has concluded that only the complete replacement of the existing centre is likely to deliver its long term objectives."
If approved by councillors, the leisure centre is intended to become a local landmark and will signal the gateway to a housing regeneration area.
