It is understood the new leisure complex is expected to include an indoor leisure pool, three lane pool and a heated play pool for children as well as a modern gymnasium
An 11th hour plea has been made to seek out a “bigger site” for the proposed new Newcastle Leisure Centre.
Design consultants are due to be in place in the coming weeks with a focus on a town centre site already fenced off for development.
However, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council’s active and healthy communities committee heard a call on Monday, August 18, for councillors to rally round to identify a site the local authority “has missed”.
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SDLP councillor, Laura Devlin said: “I was hoping to gain clarity on Newcastle Leisure Centre. On the eagerly awaited and long overdue leisure centre I was hoping to get an update on the procurement process for consultants and also to ask if there will be public engagement on design and content?
“I do think that as elected members it is really important that we place information that is factually correct into the public domain.
“But I would also like to take the opportunity if any councillor right across the district is aware of a bigger site in Newcastle that could accommodate and better serve the leisure and community needs, to let the council’s senior management team know, so that could be investigated at the next council meeting.”
Councillor Jill Truesdale, from the Alliance Party, highlighted her concerns over the size of the site in July being “too small”.
In June’s committee, councillor Devllin had said:”I know that the majority of Mournes councillors are happy with the leisure centre designs.”
Despite support for the design, the SDLP representative has now urged for a new site to be “investigated” by next month’s committee, just as a design consultant team will be in place.
She added:”I suppose those of us who have been in the chamber for a while know how limited Newcastle is in terms of development land.
“I would love a huge big massive Newry Leisure Centre type somewhere in Newcastle with loads of parking spaces, but unfortunately we are restricted in terms of the land we have there.
“I don’t want to hold off and run the risk of having to wait another decade for an absolutely perfect leisure centre. I want to strive to get the best that we possibly can and quickly.
“If there is another site that the council has missed over the years, we could try to move forward collectively to get our new leisure centre built in Newcastle.”
It is understood the new leisure complex to be located in the town centre is expected to include an indoor leisure pool, three lane pool and a heated play pool for children as well as a modern gymnasium.
A council officer responded: “The procurement process is live and ongoing and we will look to have an update on that in the next few weeks. And yes there will be full public consultation with regards the design of the scheme.”
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