Sixty homes planned for former leisure centre site

The proposed site was home to the former White Oak Leisure Centre demolished in 2021 in favour of a £20m replacement

Plans to build 60 homes on the site of a demolished leisure centre in Kent have been unveiled.

Architects Bond Bryan submitted the plan for a block of 45 apartments and 15 townhouses to be built on land at Hilda May Avenue in Swanley.

The brownfield site once hosted the town's former White Oak Leisure Centre, but it was demolished in 2021 to make way for a £20m replacement which opened next door in February 2022.

According to the planning application, Sevenoaks District Council is using this development "as a means of funding the new White Oak Leisure Centre".

Documents submitted to the council claim the plans would be a "risk" for a private developer, but because the local authority is not seeking to turn a profit as landowner the scheme should proceed as planned.

Any surplus generated will be applied to the cost of the new leisure centre, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

While not the developer, Bond Bryan has worked with the council to devise the proposal, which also includes 72 parking spaces but no affordable homes.

The architects first held a formal pre-application meeting with the council in August 2023.

A spokesperson for the council said that, if planning permission was granted, the aim was to award the contract for detailed design and construction by the autumn.

Construction would be completed about two years later, they added.

Councillor Michael Horwood said: "The new government has placed mandatory housing targets on Sevenoaks District to build 1,149 new homes every year up to 2042.

"The development of this site will help provide new high-quality homes whilst paying back the cost of building the town's new leisure centre."

An internal deadline of 11 September has been set for a decision to be made on this application.