Ageing leisure centre to be sold off

Bilston's old leisure centre will be sold off to developers who will turn it into either shops or housing, it emerged today.

The centre in Prouds Lane is being replaced by the new £15m Bert Williams Leisure Centre, which is due to open in the autumn.

It comes at a crucial time for Bilston after plans to build 1,300 houses as part of a £167m "urban village" were scrapped because the developer in charge of preparing the land was dropped by the city council because it could not get the money together.

Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands had spent £870,000 to secure the services of Places for People, but the deal was scrapped last month after two years.

Proposals were drawn up in 2002 for an urban village that would create 1,500 jobs and include a tree-lined boulevard and a health centre.

Plans for a health centre on the site have has also been scrapped because of the primary care trusts are being axed in a shake up of the National Health Service.

However the new leisure centre, off the Black Country Route, has been built and is going to open within a few months.

It now leaves Wolverhampton City Council looking to sell the old one.

Nick Edwards, Wolverhampton City Council assistant director for prosperity, said: "The new Bert Williams Leisure Centre is on track to be completed in the next few months and will replace the ageing Bilston Leisure Centre, which dates from the 1960s, to offer a dramatically improved range of facilities for all the family.

"The Bilston Leisure Centre is scheduled to close around the same time that the new centre opens and therefore, arrangements are being put in hand to dispose of the building on the open market in due course.

"Future uses could vary from non-residential such as retail and community due to its close proximity to Bilston Town Centre, right through to residential development."