Leisure centre's £17m revamp given green light

A Staffordshire councillor expressed concerns about a lack of spectator seating for a new 25m pool

Plans for a £17m leisure centre update have been approved despite concerns over a lack of spectator seating for an improved swimming area.

Brough Park Leisure Centre is to get a new six-lane 25-metre pool, enlarged gym and additional training pool after Staffordshire Moorlands District Council approved the revamp.

But residents said plans lacked a viewing gallery, something highlighted by a councillor at the planning meeting.

Councillor Ben Emery said: "It's not what we asked for, that's the trouble."

Brough Park Leisure Centre in Leek is set to get a new 25-metre pool

He queried whether the design, to be funded by Levelling Up money, could be modified to accommodate parents or people visiting for competitions.

"That's why they wanted the six lane 25m pool but it's going to be no good if you've got the gallery in the wrong place," he said.

Councillor Lyn Swindlehurst responded that a lot of swimming teachers did not support viewing galleries.

"In the same way that if you send your children to school you don't go and sit in the back of the class and watch what the teachers are doing," she added.

The authority received 39 comments from members of the public about the scheme, including one in support and five against.

Councillor Keith Flunder reminded members they had less than a year to spend the allocated funding and warned of contractor costs increasing.

"If we're not careful we're going to end up in a situation where we get halfway through it, costs go up again and we end up with mud on our faces," he said.

He added: "I think every single time you present this you'll get another two or three people having another idea. So I think you just have to go with what we can afford at the moment."

Councillors approved the plans, with two abstaining from the vote.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.