A NEW community gym in East Oxford has been branded a “waste of money”

by Save Temple Cowley Pools campaigners.

Oxford Spires Academy is working with Oxford City Council to transform part of its Glanville Road site into a new fitness centre that would be open to residents across the city.

The city council contributed £500,000 to the project, with work starting just months after Temple Cowley Pools closed.

But campaigners have said the new gym is proof the old facilities should not have been closed.

Our top stories Chaka Artwell said: “This shows the destruction of Temple Cowley Pools was absolutely unnecessary. I don’t understand why they are putting a lot of public money into this to replace facilities that they destroyed in the first place.”

Fellow Save Temple Cowley Pools member Jane Alexander said the new gym at the academy was not an “adequate replacement”

for the former Cowley leisure centre.

She said the council’s £500,000 investment would have “gone a long way in keeping Temple Cowley Pools open”.

She added: “You can’t swim in a gym, nor can you dive.

“It’s only going to be a parttime gym because it will be shared use with the school.”

Temple Cowley Pools was closed after the council built a £9.2m pool in Blackbird Leys, expanding the Leys Pool and Leisure Centre.

The eight-lane pool took 18 months to build and also has two pools for children. There was also an extensive refurbishment of the leisure centre’s gym facilities for the first time since it was built in 1985.

Oxford Spires Academy’s principal Sue Croft said its new gym was not intended to replace Temple Cowley Pools, but hoped it would be used by residents who may not want to travel to Blackbird Leys’ new leisure centre.

She said: “I think it is a facility that is needed and there are plenty of people who will use it, without it cutting across the high popularity that has been achieved at Blackbird Leys.

“We welcome the fact that parents, friends and local residents will have full access to a range of really exciting sporting activities.

We want to be the heart of the community. It’s a way of saying we really want to open our gates to the community.”

Visitors to the new gym, which is expected to open next January, will be able to use its fitness equipment and join a host of exercise classes.

Mrs Croft said about £185,000 of the academy’s budget was put towards the project, as well as £500,000 from the city council.

Mrs Croft said fitness timetables and class fees were yet to be finalised, but said it would reflect current leisure centre prices.

She said that residents could expect the gym to be open early in the morning, possibly around 6am, before closing in the evening at about 10pm.

It will also be shared with the school, with time allocated for both student-only and community- only sessions, as well as mixed use.

Blackbird Leys city councillor Linda Smith said: “The vast majority of Temple Cowley Pool users have transferred their membership to the Leys Leisure Centre.

“However, I’m sure local residents will agree that the more leisure opportunities which can be provided locally, the better.”