AN EAGERLY awaited community gym will open on an Oxford estate next month.

And in a bid to get Barton fit and healthy, community leaders are offering free taster sessions for 100 people.

When plans for Barton swimming pool were announced almost a decade ago, residents campaigned for a gym to be included but were told Oxford City Council did not have enough money.

Now, more than three years after the pool opened in Waynflete Road, residents will finally get their 45- station gym and changing area.

The project, which will include exercise bikes, running machines, and weight stations, has cost £630,000.

The gym, which will be run by Fusion Lifestyles, opens on November 12.

Barton Community Association secretary Sue Holden said it was good news for the estate after an £800,000 revamp of play facilities was shelved, along with the £8m rebuild of Bayards Hill Primary School.

She said: “This will be so affordable for people on the estate, especially those on benefits. It’s great news.”

Mrs Holden said the association had worked with the city council and Fusion, which runs the city’s leisure facilities, to offer 50 adults and 50 children the taster sessions.

One in four Oxfordshire adults are now classed as obese, and one in three children are overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school. Experts believe the problem will be costing county health services £159m per year by 2015.

Mrs Holden said the new gym and the free session scheme would help tackle the problem on the estate.

She added: “If we can get the children into the gym when they’re 12 they can see how good exercise is for them and it will become a way of life. We’d urge anyone who wants to go along and have a free session at the gym to get in touch.”