The current leisure centre is a very well used resource sitting centrally in the Walnuts. It is home to a prestigious swimming club and offers great facilities for the use of the local community. It has a large swimming pool, soft play area, gym, sports hall, among many other resources. The leisure centre attracts a number of visitors to Orpington, approximately 19,500 per month, this footfall is beneficial to local businesses.
The leisure centre is approximately 50 years old and does need replacing or significant refurbishment. There have been ongoing problems with the boiler which has resulted in the leisure centre closing on several occasions.
There has been an ongoing debate as to whether the current leisure centre needs replacing or refurbishment. The benefits of a new centre is that it can be built to meet the needs of the residents now, it will be modern and ongoing maintenance costs should be lower. The disadvantages of replacing the leisure centre is the length of time Orpington would be without the amenities it currently enjoys, swimming, sauna, steam room, gym, cycle studio, sports hall etc. The Areli proposal would have meant that Orpington would have been without a leisure centre for at least two years which would have impacted adversely on residents who use the centres physical and emotional health. Refurbishment would be a cheaper option and probably a more environmentally friendly option.
The Areli proposal, now withdrawn, included the building of a new leisure centre on the ground floor of a Tower Block. It did not replicate all the resources currently available and there were concerns about the swimming pool and teaching pool being smaller and the creation of multi use rooms as opposed to dedicated space for certain sport uses such as Squash.
Areli do not own the leisure centre building or the land on which it sits and would have had to have reached an agreement with Bromley as to the value of the land and building before any demolition of the existing leisure centre and a new leisure centre being built. The Nuts to the Walnuts Campaign Group lobbied for a full consultation between residents and Bromley Council before decisions were taken regarding the sale of the land on which the leisure centre sits. Bromley Council agreed to a period of consultation. In addition the Special Planning (Objectives) Document recently agreed by Bromley Council specifically stated that any replacement leisure facility provided by developers should be as good or better than the existing facility.
It is not known if Areli’s new planning application will include building a new leisure centre but the consensus of opinion, although not evidence based, is that the new plan will not include a new leisure centre. As already stated Areli do not own this land and would need to reach a separate agreement with Bromley for the sale of the land. Also Areli will need to incorporate more social/ affordable housing in their next planning application as directed by the GLA. If Areli are not spending money on building a leisure centre this money could be redirected into providing more affordable and social housing. As stated at this point in time this is conjecture and no one will know anything for certain until the developers commence their new period of consultation.
Once the Nuts to the Walnuts Campaign group knows the developers plans for the leisure centre we will comment further. Watch this space…..
22 November 2022 Councillor Pauline Tunnicliffe confirmed that Areli’s new planning application would not include plans for the Leisure Centre.
The Local Authority have stated they will meet the cost of the refurbishment of the Leisure Centre.