£20m leisure plan for Oxford

5:30am Monday 30th July 2007

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Radical plans are being drawn for a £20mcorr leisure centre on the outskirts of Oxford.

The Oxford Mail has been told the crumbling Oxford Ice Rink in Oxpens Road and Temple Cowley Pool will be knocked down and replaced with a multi-purpose complex close to the ring road.

It is set to become one of the best in the region.

City council leisure chiefs have been told the complex must have "pulling power" - and it could include features like slides, flumes and a wave machine.

The ice rink would be Olympic size, while there could also be room for a skatepark.

However, the complex would not include an Olympic-size swimming pool - just a facility of "competition standard".

The project, which has been described as a medium-term aspiration, would go some way to addressing leisure services in Oxford, some of which were branded "unacceptable" last year by auditors.

Leisure chiefs have identified two council-owned plots of land,we have not been told where they are plus Arlington Business Park in Cowley as potential sites - but no decision has been made on which is most suitable.

City council leader John Goddard, who put the cost of the project at £20m, said: "The idea is to put a slightly bigger ice rink of international competition size and swimming pool together not too far away from where Temple Cowley is now.

"The pool is now in a poor state, crumbling and not providing a very good service, so we want something that is better and modern.

What is clear is that we need to do something radical. We can't go on propping up leisure facilities as they are."

City councillors recently agreed a £350,000 repair package to keep the ice rink and Temple Cowley Pool open for the foreseeable future.

However, the council wants to demolish the facilities - particularly the ice rink, which is on prime West End regeneration land.

Frans van de Schootbrugge, chairman of City of Oxford Swimming Club, said: "We welcome the fact the city council has come to realise it needs to make an investment and knock down the two facilities.

"We now want an open dialogue because the needs of serious swimmers need to be taken into account."

No decision has been reached on how the scheme would be financed, but a sizeable sum would be obtained from selling the two council-owned sites while a better facility would lead to more customers.

Long-standing leisure critic and Tory city councillor Paul Sargent said: "Something has to be done.

"It makes absolute sense to build a swimming pool and ice rink together because you get the environmental benefits.

"But we need a competition standard pool - flumes and leisure pools come in and out of fashion."

Mr Goddard added: "I don't see why this should not happen."