A GYMNASTICS club in Oxford is celebrating after being given permission to move to a permanent home in the city.

Children faced a four-year wait to get into oversubscribed Cherwell Gymnastics Club but could be welcomed into classes much sooner after the club secured a new premises in Blackbird Leys.

Its move was all but confirmed on Wednesday night when Oxford City Council’s east area planning committee granted permission to change the use of a warehouse in Ashville Way.

Club spokeswoman Hazel Walsh said: “We are over the moon. The first thing for us is the facility, we now have more time in the gym which is great but we need to train more coaches.

“We hope to be able to offer more general classes as we do now, and teen gymnastics, specific boys classes and gymnastics for people with disabilities.

“To make sure we have the work force to do that, we’ll be fundraising for more equipment to fill the gym and engage the kids in different ways. We’re also aiming to get people in from the waiting list.”

The club was overwhelmed with an influx of interest after the London 2012 Olympics and has been using sports facilities at Cherwell School.

It has more than 700 families on its waiting list – about 1,400 children – but club bosses now says the extra space will allow it to provide more spaces, which should reduce the wait to one term in three years.

Councillor Linda Smith, the city council’s boss for leisure and sport, welcomed the news, declaring it a ‘a victory for common sense’.

The change of use went against council planning policies, with officers recommending refusal, but the planning committee agreed to overrule this because of the benefits the participation in sport would bring youngsters.

Supporting the application, Ms Smith told councillors: “We have here a very successful sports club and this will get more young people and children involved in sport.”

The approval was opposed by Dick Wolff and Ruth Wilkinson who said the premises should be kept for business use. Mr Wolff said: “I do appreciate there is a shortage of leisure facilities but this is an industrial estate.”

The city council’s planning rules say that due to a shortage of office and industrial space, these types of buildings cannot be converted into other types of use such as housing or leisure.

But Carter Jonas, the agents marketing the warehouse, said no other potential tenants had expressed interest in the building.