City bosses admit it will be “extremely challenging” to have a new leisure centre open in the outer west of Newcastle in time to meet the Government’s 2024 deadline.
Newcastle City Council was awarded almost £20m of Levelling Up funding last October for a state-of-the-art new facility to replace the closed West Denton swimming pool, which was shut down at the start of the Covid pandemic by operator GLL. The site is expected to have a 25m swimming pool, plus two other smaller pools, and a range of other facilities including a cafe, gym, library, and sports hall.
But there are worries that construction of the centre, which is expected to cost £22m in total, will not be able to keep up with the Government’s timescales. Under the terms of the funding agreement, the £19.8m awarded to the council must be spent by March 2024.
