Why we consulted on our leisure facilities strategy
Our draft leisure facilities strategy builds on our previous work and our previous experience.
But there are a number of areas where there are choices to be made and priorities to be set. We think that involving residents before taking decisions is the right thing to do.
The leisure facilities strategy focuses on new or improved leisure facilities and will provide the evidence and policy to support the emerging Local Plan.
Following the adoption of the leisure facilities strategy in 2014, we've made significant investment in improving our leisure facilities. New centres have been opened in Flitwick and Dunstable, and major improvements have been carried out to other centres including Tiddenfoot, Houghton Regis and most recently, Biggleswade’s and Sandy’s leisure centres.
To keep pace with the needs of both our current communities, and those that will be created through housing growth, we have reviewed the earlier strategy to update the evidence and priorities.
Our current strategy is supported by Sport England, and we have used its detailed modelling tools to identify exactly what and where we need to provide new or improved facilities based on housing growth and what the activities residents want to take part in.
Based on the facilities assessment work, we have identified new leisure centre projects, as well as improvements to existing centres to ensure they remain current, and provide our residents with a range of high quality facilities and activities.