Decision due on revamp of Cannock's Chase Leisure Centre
A leisure centre is set to undergo a half a million pound revamp which will see the gym refurbished and a cinema-inspired indoor cycling studio installed on a bowling green.
But the project, touted for Chase Leisure Centre in Cannock, is a substantial downgrade on more lucrative schemes put forward worth up to £2.4m, which propose ideas such as building a crazy golf course or indoor climbing facilities.
The proposal has been put forward by Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles (IHL) which run leisure facilities on behalf of Cannock Chase District Council.
The authority is having to review the 10-year contract amid wider savings targets of £1.6m which need to be made by 2019/20.
The council had already demanded the firm slash its ‘operational budget’ by £70,000 a year.
They have also told the provider to make £650,000 worth of savings to its ‘capital investment’ proposal for the centre.
IHL has put four options forward to redevelop the venue on Stafford Road which will go before the council’s cabinet committee tomorrow.
The preferred option – which is the second cheapest – is to plough in £521,981.
It will see the gym refurbished, ‘virtual fitness’ facilities introduced to the main studio and the bowling green converted into an indoor cycling studio inspired by The Trip by Les Mills UK which involves people riding on mounted bikes in front of a large cinema screen taking them on virtual trips through futuristic settings.
The loss of the green would be compensated by bowling mats provided in the sports hall. It is estimated the council will save £902,987 on the plans.
Two more expensive options will be tabled. One would cost £758,549 and involve converting the sports hall store into the indoor cycling studio.
The most ambitious scheme would be to spend £2,367,317 which would see half of the sports hall converted into a climbing area and play area and catering facility. But the cabinet report states that the proposal would not achieve any savings and would actually cost the council £1.8m.
A budget option will also be put forward to spend £250,549 saving £515,180. It proposes to convert the sports hall stall into the indoor cycling studio and introduce virtual fitness facilities to the existing studio.
