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11
Feb 2022
Knaresborough Civic Society urges councillors to reject leisure centre plans
Knaresborough Civic Society is calling on councillors to reject a £13 million leisure centre in favour of rival proposals for an extension of the town’s swimming pool.
The civic society is supporting plans from the ‘Not on Fysche Field’ campaign group which has produced designs to upgrade the 30-year-old swimming pool as an alternative to its demolition proposed by Harrogate Borough Council.
A recommendation of approval has been made by the council on its own plans at a meeting next Tuesday, and the civic society has cautioned councillors that they must “take full responsibility for the outcome of such a huge decision”.
A civic society spokesperson said:
The proposed £13 million leisure centre includes a six-lane pool and exercise studios, and has been hailed by the council as a “modern and fit-for-purpose” facility.
However, several concerns have been raised since the plans were first revealed in 2020, particularly over a council-run survey and the environmental impact of demolishing a building to replace it with another.
Read more:
- Plans approved for 38 flats at ‘Pannal skyscraper’
- £13m Knaresborough Leisure Centre recommended for approval
The survey on five potential locations for the leisure centre referred to locating it “on the site of the existing pool”, but it was only several months after this that the council revealed it wants to build the facility over a play area behind the existing pool at Fysche Field.
The civic society said demolishing the existing pool would result in “unnecessary damage” to the environment and argued it is at odds with separate council plans to extend The Hydro in Harrogate.
It also raised questions over what the scrapping of Harrogate Borough Council in April 2023 will mean for its proposals and new leisure company Brimhams Active.
A civic society spokesperson said:
If approved, the new leisure centre could be built by the end of 2023.
The other locations previously considered included Knaresborough House, Hay-a-Park, Conyngham Hall and a plot of land at Halfpenny Lane.
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