Developer backtracks on plans for centre

Company behind plans to build homes at Greenacre Leisure Centre goes back to the drawing board

PUBLIC outcry over plans to tear down a popular Newbury leisure centre and replace it with homes appears to have had an impact.

Bloor Homes has repeatedly refused to answer questions over the future of the site since it unveiled proposals in October to build 42 homes on the site of Greenacre Leisure Centre, in Greenham road, and 17 affordable homes at another plot a short distance away, near to Sayers Close.

Although the developer has again refused to respond to questions on the current status of the application an update has been released by a protest group, ave Our Great Greenacre Institution (SOGGI), set up to oppose the plans.

The housing firm originally said it had struck a deal with Greenacre and said it intended to move part of the leisure facility to the direct north of its current site and proposed replacing the indoor and outdoor tennis courts, but not the gym, swimming pool or squash courts currently housed inside the leisure centre, which have been at the site since the 1970s.

Users of the facilities reacted with anger at a public consultation after which SOGGI and a website were set up for those worried about the plans to track its progress.

Citing a loss of provision as well as potential harm to wildlife and a protected species of newt, many users of the facility and local residents have come forward to announce their unhappiness at the plans.

A statement on the website said a private meeting had been held between the developers, the owners of the site and its users on November 17, and that Bloor had said it would revise the plans in the wake of the strength of feeling.

The statement reads: “After the first exhibition, so many members found fault with the proposed plan that Bloor Homes decided to 'go back to the drawing board'. As a result, no application is likely to be made before Christmas.”