A NEW multi-million pound swimming and fitness centre for Whitchurch will go before Shropshire councillors for approval next week.

Members will be asked to approve the business case for the project when they meet next Thursday, September 22.

The total cost of the project is now estimated to be £13.1 million and councillors will be asked to make certain recommendations to ensure the rebuild proceeds as quickly as possible "bearing in mind inflation pressures", according to a report ahead of the meeting.

The report states: " If there are major issues or the capital budget is exceeded and there is a need for increased capital spend, a further paper will be taken to council for consideration.

"Providing development to the next stages goes as planned, building should start in 2024, with the new centre completed in 2025."

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The new centre will feature a six-lane 25m pool with a movable floor, a 35-station fitness suite, multi-function rooms and a cafe to be built on the location of the old pool in Bridgewater Street which closed in 2020 because of the Covid-19 outbreak but later structural problems were identified including a leak from the pool tank.

Next week's meeting follows a public consultation which showed "overwhelming support" for the project.

The report adds: "Whitchurch Swimming Centre had an estimated used capacity of 82 per cent in the weekly peak period, this was over the 70 per cent ‘comfort level’ recommended by Sport England. This demonstrates that when open, Whitchurch Swimming Centre had a very high level of use.

"Accessibility to other facilities is a challenge in the area if one does not have access to a private car; bus services are limited and do not always enable sufficient time to access the next nearest pool – with a growing population, the demand is expected to increase."