Rising costs scupper new leisure centre plans

Plans to rebuild Chester-le-Street Leisure Centre have been shelved in favour of making improvements

Plans for two new leisure centres have been shelved over rising costs, a council has said.

Since the proposals to replace the existing facilities in Seaham and Chester-Le-Street were announced in 2020, the cost of the rebuilds has risen from £32m in total to £52.7m.

Instead, Durham County Council wants to spend £10m on "enhancing the facilities" at the current complexes.

However, a review has warned that improvements were likely to be unaffordable given the buildings' conditions and need for routine and emergency works to keep them running.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the review also stated that "£10m allocated will remain ringfenced for this purpose".

It added: "Although regenerated and/or new centres remain very much part of future consideration, we can only deliver on these intentions as and when finances and funding allow and make it prudent and responsible to do so.”

Cabinet members will discuss the latest updates to the leisure transformation programme at a meeting on Wednesday.