A “significant amount of water” remains in a dilapidated Tuebrook leisure centre as roof works have been pushed back yet again.
After years of waiting, Liverpool Council signed off for work to begin on the upgrade and repair of the crumbling Peter Lloyd Lifestyles leisure centre last year. An urgent decision was taken by officers in August to green light the pot of cash needed to bring the popular location back into service.
The site is unable to open in its current state of repair. It is estimated that closure of the site has lost the local authority £1m a year in potential revenue.
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The leisure centre has been victim to changing weather conditions in months gone by and an email seen by the ECHO has confirmed further time has been added to the wait as a result. Updating stakeholders, Mike Kearney, Liverpool Council head of sport and recreation, wrote: “Works are progressing on all roofs with no major issues and a target completion date for the roof works is now mid-March.
“This is because a significant amount of time has been lost since commencement due to inclement weather.” It had been expected the roof work would be completed by the end of this month.
December’s cold snap proved to be a challenge for the site, with frost and minus temperatures having a “considerable effect” on progress. Where roof work has not been completed, “there still remains a significant amount of water within the building” according to the correspondence seen by the LDRS and dehumidification units have been delivered to site to assist with drying out internally.
Mr Kearney’s update added: “Regarding the internal works, colleagues in the property team are now finalising a work programme and obtaining costs with the contractor and we will provide a further update once this exercise is completed.
Earlier this year, it was confirmed membership and pay-as-you-go prices are to increase at Liverpool Council owned leisure centres despite attendance figures being on the decline. For the first time in eight years, the local authority’s Lifestyles centres has raised its fees across direct debits, annual memberships, pay and play, pay as you go and swimming lessons at its sites across the city.
According to the city council, customers who pay by monthly direct debit will have a price increase of £2 or £1 concessions. Annual members will have an increase of 10% for new customers and at the end of the 12 month period for existing customers.
The local authority described the increase as “unavoidable” owing to rising costs and said it had “done all we can to keep our prices the same” citing the freeze in fees since 2015.
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