A popular leisure centre in Ealing could receive a £33 million investment for ambitious plans which involve building homes on the site.
Ealing Borough Council was given the green light to investigate a new design for Gurnell Leisure Centre in Ruislip Road East at their cabinet meeting last Tuesday (March 24).
The replacement would be funded by enabling residential development on the site to provide part of the construction costs.
The new centre and homes could take up less space than the centre they replace, meaning there will be no loss of green space.
It would form the flagship of the borough's leisure centres, says the council, and offer a 50m swimming pool, as well as a sports hall and gym.
The new homes could be built by the council’s Broadway Living development company so they provide an income stream for the council and provide money for future investment.
Ealing's cabinet agreed for officers to do preliminary work on possible options before reporting back in the autumn when decisions will be made about more detailed plans.
Labour’s cabinet member for libraries, leisure and customer services, Councillor Patricia Walker, said: “These are exciting plans which will see a state of the art new leisure facility for the borough. This is an ambitious project which will transform the current centre, provide new homes and open up green space.”
Gurnell Leisure Centre, which is built on a former landfill site, forms a core part of the council’s leisure provision. The site would be a major contributor towards achieving a surplus generating leisure provision, mainly based on the largest ‘learn to swim’ programme in London.
Gurnell Leisure Centre has been the home of the Ealing Swimming Club , the biggest swimming club in the country with over 1,650 members.
