Leisure centres across Dudley to gradually open next week
Leisure centres across the Dudley borough will be reopening gradually next week.
Halesowen and Stourbridge's Crystal leisure centres will be reopening their gyms and offer fitness classes and badminton as planned from Monday, with the pools to reopen on Thursday. The leisure pool at Crystal will remain closed.
However, thorough site investigations and a review of the Covid-19 safety measures have led council bosses to take the decision to slightly delay the reopening of some facilities at Dudley Leisure Centre.
Dudley will now reopen its pools, classes and for badminton on Thursday. Additional measures are being put in place before the gym at Dudley will reopen.
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Councillor Ian Kettle, cabinet member responsible for leisure centres, said: "We’re really looking forward to reopening our leisure centres next week. We’ve taken the decision to slightly delay the reopening of some of the facilities at Dudley Leisure Centre until we are completely happy that we have met and exceeded the government’s safety requirements to be Covid-safe."
Once the sites are open, due to the fact the swimming pools will be operating with reduced capacities in order to maintain social distancing, the free swimming for children offer will not be running over the summer holidays. Similarly, the leisure pool will not be open at Crystal following guidance from Swim England. Lane swimming will be put into operation at the 25m pool at Crystal, and at Dudley and Halesowen pools to manage capacity.
Customers will need to pre-book sessions and pay online in advance, with cleaning taking place in between each session.
The centres have been shut since March due to government restrictions imposed to control the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dell Stadium in Brierley Hill reopened on Monday July 27.
