AN OFFER of £3.5m by a firm wanting to demolish Temple Cowley Pools and build 47 homes will be considered this week.  

Councillors will decide on Wednesday whether to sell the site for housing or hand it over to campaigners who want to run the pools under a lease agreement.

The authority has been offered the cash by Catalyst Housing.

But a counter-offer has been proposed by Save Temple Cowley Pools campaigners, who have fought a long fight to save the complex.

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Council leader Bob Price said: “We will first look at the commercial bid [from Catalyst Housing] and then we will consider the community proposal.

“The community proposal is clearly more complex because there is more uncertainty involved, but we will give it our full consideration. We are also happy with the Catalyst Housing proposal, which would give a significant amount of social housing.”

Mr Price added that at least 24 of the planned 47 homes would be affordable, with some of the rest potentially sold under shared ownership schemes.

The closure of the Temple Cowley leisure complex is part of council plans to replace it with a newer £9.23m building in Blackbird Leys.

The authority has said it can no longer afford to maintain the older building.

After 18 months of construction, the Leys centre is set to open in the new year and will feature an eight-lane, 25-metre competition-standard swimming pool.

But since 2010 the Save Temple Cowley Pools campaign has argued that the new pool complex would be too far for some residents to travel and that their area needs its own centre.

Campaign spokeswoman Jane Alexander said: “The community proposal, based around a social enterprise, offers the best value solution for all. It combines retention of the land in community ownership with a profitable operation that will return surplus funds to the council.”

The group pledged to refurbish existing changing rooms, the exercise studio, sauna, steam room and gym. It would also build a café, community centre and exercise studio, along with treatment rooms for health and fitness.

Ms Alexander added: “The addition provides a focus for energising the whole Cowley area, a long-neglected part of Oxford.”

In a report to the city council’s executive board, council officer Jane Winfield recommended that if the community offer was chosen, campaigners should have nine months to thrash out a formal deal with the authority.

Catalyst Housing spokeswoman Julia Moulder said: “Oxford is one of the UK’s least affordable places to buy or rent and there is a dire shortage of affordable homes in and around the city.

“As a charitable housing association that already houses hundreds of people in Oxford, Catalyst is committed to tackling the housing crisis and our proposal for the Temple Cowley site will bring much-needed affordable homes, enabling more local people to live in the area.”

The city executive board will meet at the Town Hall in St Aldate’s on Wednesday at 5pm.

The meeting is open to the public.

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