New council leader: We're listening to Sandwell Commonwealth Games Aquatics Centre concerns
The new leader of Sandwell Council has vowed that opponents of the new Aquatics Centre would be listened to after the £60 million plans were recommended for approval.
The project would see the brand new swimming facility built in Smethwick to host Commonwealth Games events in 2022.
However, more than 200 residents have signed a petition objecting to the plans for the state-of-the-art centre.
The petition, which has attracted 214 signatures, is called Save Londonderry Playing Fields and is trying to save the green space where the centre has been earmarked.
A planning application has been submitted and councillors will decide on the project's fate at a meeting next week.
It comes as the authority released new artist impressions of how the new aquatics centre could look. Plans for the new leisure centre include a 50m Olympic-sized competition swimming pool, a 25m diving pool, a studio pool and 1,000 spectator seats.
Alongside the swimming facilities, the centre would boast a dry-dive facility, 108-station gym, a 25-station ladies-only gym, three activity studios, an eight-court sports hall, indoor cycling studio, sauna/steam room and café.
It would also include more than 300 on-site car parking spaces, a football pitch and changing facilities, an improved urban park and children’s play area.
There is another proposed development for green space in Sandwell which has attracted controversy, which is for a designer village on the current Lion Farm playing fields in Oldbury. No planning application has been submitted yet and the project has been going through a public consultation.
Residents have objected to these plans for a loss of green space in a densely built-up area. The plans prompted a campaign group to be formed called Save Lion Farm Fields.
Councillor Steve Trow told the Express & Star: "We will always listen to any reasonable objections. Of course, there is a mechanism for making those objections.
"I think a planning application still has to be agreed for Lion Farm. Those representations will always be listened to.
"I haven't got any figures but the work that was done on the consultation for the Aquatic Centre, in terms of the responses, it was strongly supported. But I recognise there may be a number of people that may be anxious about it.
"And we will certainly listen to them as well las take the feeling sof the majority of the people that did submit their thoughts and support through the consultation stage. We do have to respect that of course.
"It is a major new facility for Sandwell. It won't cost the council any more than we would have been spending anyway on the renewal of the swimming centres that were basically at the end of their lives.
"We had already planned to renew those. This came along as an opportunity to draw major resources from outside the council to launch and then have a world class leisure facility that will be for the benefit of communities and young people in Sandwell for years to come."
