Work begins on £6m leisure centre improvements

The White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre in Abingdon will have 600 new solar panels fitted to its roof

Work is beginning on £6m of heating improvements at two leisure centres.

The White Horse Leisure Centre in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, will see air source heat pumps installed, powered by 600 new solar panels on the building's roof.

Vale of White Horse District Council said the work would reduce its overall carbon emissions by more than 25%.

The work is set to finish in March 2026, with similar improvements planned for Wantage Leisure Centre in due course.

'Cheaper to run'

The council said disruption to the centre's users would be minimal, with the majority of work taking place outside the building.

Councillor Andrew Crawford, cabinet member for finance and property, said: "The use of renewable energy at the leisure centres will make them cheaper to run and less vulnerable to sudden rises in energy costs.

"[This will make] them much more economically viable in the long term."

The council added updated information would be available on the leisure centre's webpage.

Much of the £6m comes from the government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Further funding comes from Community Infrastructure Levy - money from new local developments which goes towards local infrastructure projects.