Plans for new £47m leisure centre approved

The King Alfred leisure centre opened in 1939

Plans to demolish a leisure centre on Hove seafront and replace it with a new £47 million complex have been approved by councillors.

Brighton & Hove City Council will now spend £2.7 million designing the new facility on the site of the King Alfred leisure centre.

Councillor Alan Robins said it will include an eight-lane 25-metre pool, a learner pool, splash pool, soft play area, six sports courts, two fitness studios, a spin class studio and a number of other facilities.

“It’s such a lovely site, right on the beach,” said Mr Robins.

“But [the current building] is not designed to make the most of that."

“Once you’re in the King Alfred you wouldn’t know that you were on the seafront.”

The council hopes to have the plans finalised by December and the project is scheduled to be completed by 2028.

Council leader Bella Sankey said: “I think, like many people that live in this city, there’s a feeling that this is so long overdue.

"I think people are desperate for us to get on with rebuilding the King Alfred.”

An alternative site for the project, on land south of Sainsbury’s supermarket in west Hove, was previously rejected.