Houghton Regis £25m leisure centre gets planning permission

The building will have swimming pools, a fitness suite, squash courts, creche, a children's play area and a café

Plans for a £25m leisure centre have been approved.

Central Bedfordshire Council said building work will start on Houghton Regis Community and Leisure Centre in the autumn and it should open in 2024.

Funding came from a £20m government Levelling Up Fund grant, it added. The existing Houghton Regis Leisure Centre will remain until the new centre opens.

The building will have swimming pools, a fitness suite, squash courts, creche, a children's play area and a café.

Tracey Stock, the council's executive member for health and wellbeing and communities, said: "The new centre will complement the wider plans helping to transform the area and will provide residents with an asset they can use and enjoy."