More than 3,500 residents have shared their views on proposals to replace the ageing King Alfred with a new flagship leisure centre.
An online questionnaire inviting comments on the council’s proposals for a new leisure facility in the west of the city, closed on February 16.
Over the past six weeks, thousands of residents have been sharing their views, filling in the questionnaire.
In addition, many have attended drop-in sessions to speak to council officers and find out more about the site options and proposals.
Councillor Alan Robins, chair of the Culture, Heritage, Sports, Tourism and Economic Development Committee, said:
“We’d like to thank all those residents, sports club members, community groups and other organisations in the city, who have shared their views with us over the last few weeks.
“The huge response to the questionnaire shows us how much local people want to be involved in planning for a new leisure centre, and we will continue to update residents as our plans progress.
“We will be taking all comments on board as we move forward to the next stage and work with independent experts to develop an exciting, modern and sustainable leisure centre we can all be proud of.
“After several failed attempts to re-develop the King Alfred, we now have ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to finally make this happen.”
The current King Alfred is nearing the end of its useful life, is in constant need of repair and may have to close in the not-too-distant future.
Two sites are being considered for a new leisure centre in the west of the city, as part of the council’s plan to provide three main leisure ‘hubs’ and improve the health and wellbeing of residents.
- the current King Alfred Leisure Centre site
- land to the south of Sainsbury’s car park at the junction of Old Shoreham Road and the A293
Each of the sites offers potential for a ‘state of the art’ leisure centre, complete with 25 metre competition swimming pool, separate learner pool and leisure water, sports hall, health and fitness facilities, including gym and cycling studio, group exercise space and café.
The proposals for each site differ due to size, cost, building considerations and constraints. Wherever the site is built, the specification is dependent on selling some, or all of, the current site for a residential-led development to pay for the new facility.
Responses from the questionnaire and public engagement sessions will be taken into account alongside work with independent experts to review the costs, benefits and challenges of the delivery options and cost proposals.
The final decision will be taken back to the council’s Culture, Heritage, Sports, Tourism and Economic Development Committee in the summer.
On site work is still expected to begin in 2025.
More information can be found on our King Alfred development webpages
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