Deeping St James: Council leader 'not convinced' on leisure centre

The leader of Lincolnshire County Council said he is "not convinced" over a bid to help reopen a leisure centre.

In January South Kesteven District Council (SKDC) voted to contribute £850,000 from its reserves to refurbish Deepings Leisure Centre.

The Deeping St James building closed in July 2021 after safety concerns were raised over a faulty roof.

A group set up to save the centre said it will need £2.2m to get the leisure centre running again.

The Deepings Leisure Centre Community Group (DLCCG) will need additional support from parish councils and Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) to fund the work.

At an LCC meeting on 23 February, leader Martin Hill expressed his doubts about the proposal, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Despite these concerns, Mr Hill agreed to hand the building back to SKDC with a sum of money to save the leisure centre, the amount likely to be similar to the £850,000.

After the meeting, he said: "When you actually look at the papers that went to South Kesteven District Council, I have to say, even though they are still willing to support the bid, I'm afraid there are a lot of unanswered questions and I don't think anybody is particularly convinced at the moment that the community bid is either sustainable or actually ready."

Leader of SKDC, Ashley Baxter, said they need to get a formal agreement on how the local school and DLCCG will use the centre once it is refurbished.

"I genuinely think that is what everybody wants out of this. But there is obviously some concern about what happens if it doesn't turn out the way we hoped," he said.

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