The new facility at Pleasure Fair Meadow Car Park in Oundle Road would replace the Regional Fitness & Indoor Swimming Centre in Bishop’s Road which needs a large amount of expense to remain operational.
The new site is expected to deliver: an eight lane, 25m pool with 300 spectator seats; a 17mx15m teaching pool; a sauna, 350sqm of ‘leisure water’, with water features and a toddler splash area; a 175-station gym; two exercise studios, a yoga studio and a spin studio; a four-court sports hall and a soft-play area, as well as potentially a café.
The car park was chosen as the best location following a review by SLC (the Sport, Leisure and Culture Consultancy) which examined a number of potential sites in the city.
These are the options they considered and why each one was ruled out (or in).
1. Existing Regional Pool site
This is expected to form part of the new Peterborough university which is “likely to be a significant barrier to redevelopment”. Photo: Midlands
2. Northminster
SLC said: “The prominence of the site is relatively poor compared to others, and whilst the inclusion of a major leisure facility would be good for the wider scheme’s development, it would take a significant amount of land on a site with a number of designs constraints.” Photo: Midlands
3. Mayor's Walk
The site owned by Network Rail could become available through redevelopment of the Station Quarter, but “availability and control represent a challenge to this site’s suitability for leisure re-provision”.
4. Maskew Avenue
Although land on Maskew Avenue is currently for sale it is “understood to have a number of interested parties”. Moreover, it has not been allocated for leisure use in the city’s Local Plan.