NETBALL, basketball and tennis have been boosted in Didcot thanks to £100,000 of leisure improvements.

The town council has agreed a package of upgrades for Edmonds Park costing about £100,000.

Residents in Didcot are currently being asked what leisure facilities they would like to see at a new £15m leisure centre as part of a 2,030-home development north of the Ladygrove estate, next to the town’s northern ring road.

But the leisure centre planned by South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) will not open until 2015 at the earliest.

In the meantime the tennis courts in the park have been resurfaced at a cost of £30,000 so that people can play netball, basketball and tennis.

And outdoor gym equipment costing about £70,000 is expected to be installed in the autumn.

Deputy town clerk Karen Dodd said: “Work to lay the new surface on the courts was finished at the end of last week and the courts opened at the weekend.

“The outdoor gym equipment should be installed by the autumn and we are hoping for some grant funding to go towards it.

“Children and adults will be able to use the outdoor gym equipment.”

Town council leader Margaret Davies said: “I know SODC is keen to get on with the new leisure centre, which is why residents are now being asked what they would like to see there.

“But the 2015 target for opening could be a bit optimistic – it might be 2016 before it opens – so we need to make sure that the existing facilities we have are properly maintained.

“In Edmonds Park it’s very important to improve the facilities we have in this established part of town.

“It’s no good just depending on new schemes coming forward – we have to make the best of the facilities that we already have.”

Mrs Davies said the exercise stations would be similar to those installed on the Ladygrove estate, on green space known as the Ladygrove Loop.

She added: “The gym equipment will be in three different points in the park and will be suitable for parents and children.”

Mrs Davies said SOLL Leisure has been awarded a new 10-year contract by the town council to run Willowbrook Leisure Centre on Ladygrove.

“From June 13 to June 23 the leisure centre will close for refurbishment, with the gym refitted with new machines and the cafe area improved,” she added.