Leisure Centres to Be Brought Up to 'Acceptable Standard'
Council puts funds aside for investment in Roehampton and Putney
Putney Leisure Centre. Picture: Google Streetview
March 5, 2024
Two leisure centres in SW15 are to benefit from increased investments after the council agreed to spend £3.6million on upgrades on facilities across the borough.
The money is to bring the facilities up to an ‘acceptable standard’ and will see new play centre at the Putney Leisure Centre plus a revamp of kitchen in Dryburgh Hall, renewal of sports and studio hall flooring, improvements to the accessible toilet/changing area and air conditioning upgrades. Roehampton Leisure Centre will see a renewal of roof coverings and sports and studio hall flooring.
Upgrades to swimming pool filtration vessels, door replacements, new lifts and boiler repairs or replacements are also planned at various leisure centres.
The council’s finance committee approved plans on 27 February to add schemes totalling £44.4m to the authority’s capital programme up to 2027/28. The committee previously approved a capital programme totalling £293.2m in October last year. The executive will approved the planned additions this Monday (4 March).
A report by council officers said the extra investment in Wandsworth’s roads and pavements, decarbonisation and sustainability projects, immediate upgrades required to leisure centres and other schemes would make the borough “more attractive”. It added the main planned additions to the council’s capital programme include an extra £3.6m in its leisure centres to bring them up to an “acceptable standard”, a further £19.8m to improve roads and pavements and £2.2m to decarbonise properties it owns.
Labour councillor Jeremy Ambache praised the aims of the planned investment at the meeting as he said the borough had fallen “into some state of disrepair in terms of… our capital assets, highways, footways, leisure centres [and] family hubs”.
Fenella Merry, executive director of finance, added the leisure centre upgrades would “bring those assets up to a standard where they will be able to be used for many years to come”.
The report includes a list of works planned at the leisure centres which would be funded by the extra investment. As well as the two local centres, facilities the Balham, Tooting, Latchmere and Wandle Leisure Centres will all see money spent on them.
Charlotte Lilywhite - Local Democracy Reporter
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