Image demonstrating Drop in and find out more about new leisure centre plans

Drop in and find out more about new leisure centre plans


People who live and work in and around Berwick are being invited to view exciting new plans for a £20m new sports and leisure centre for the town.

Northumberland County Council and Active Northumberland are holding two public drop in events in the town next week.  

The first will be held in The Swan Centre in Tweedmouth on Tuesday March 19, between 1 - 7pm.

The second will be held in Berwick Workspace, Boarding School Yard, 90 Marygate on Saturday 23 March between 10am-2pm.

The drop in sessions will provide  an opportunity for members of the public to learn about the leisure centre plans in more detail, to speak to the project team and to ask questions or give any feedback.

The new development aims to provide a high quality, inclusive and modern community leisure facility for the town.

Consultation has been carried out to hear directly from residents as to what they would like to see provided at the new centre.

Proposed facilities include a 25m swimming pool, a learner pool and leisure water, a sports hall, fitness suite and studios, a lawn green and indoor bowls hall, spa facilities, cafe and soft play, an outdoor all-weather pitch and adult care and teaching facilities.

The proposal will also include new landscaping and public open space as well as an overall increase in parking.

The new centre will be situated on the site of the existing Swan Centre and will be run by Active Northumberland, the charitable trust that manages leisure services across the county on behalf of Northumberland County Council.

Northumberland County Councillor, Cath Homer, cabinet member with responsibility for leisure said:

“ Active Northumberland staff are all incredibly professional and are delivering some fantastic leisure services for the town. However, the hard fact is that the current Swan Centre has millions of pounds worth of backlog maintenance issues,  and is no longer fit for its intended purpose.

“ The new centre, with state of the art facilities, will provide fantastic opportunities for fun, fitness and relaxation for residents and visitors to the town and will ultimately be far more efficient to run too.”

The brand new leisure centre will be built on the site of the present Swan Centre and its construction which is expected to start  later this year will be phased alongside the existing facility’s demolition providing consistent access to leisure facilities during the development.


Mark Tweedie, Chief Executive of Active Northumberland said:

“ Just like the existing Swan Centre has done, this new facility will serve the Berwick community for generations to come. Modern lifestyles mean that most of us are not as physically active as we should be which can be detrimental to our long term health, so it's never been more important to provide great places to help people be active and have fun.”

“ Active Northumberland is really looking forward to working closely with the local community and Northumberland County Council to deliver this exciting new development for the town."

If you are unable to make either of the drop in events, information boards will be on display at The Swan Centre for the full week from 19th March.

Advance Northumberland, a new regeneration company established by Northumberland County Council is responsible for delivering the project.

 
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