Approval given for Middlesbrough community hub

The site where the Southlands centre once stood is next to Unity City Academy

Plans for a new £3.7m community and sports hub in Middlesbrough have been approved.

Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston said the development would deliver the facilities people living in the East of the town deserved.

The plans will see a community centre and outdoor sports facilities built on the site of the former Southlands Leisure Centre, off Ormesby Road.

The leisure centre was closed due to budget cuts in 2018.

The Southlands Centre was demolished in 2019 after it was closed by the council the previous year

The former leisure centre, which opened in 1990, closed almost three years ago after councillors agreed keeping it open was no longer a viable option.

The leisure centre had been home to a number of small businesses and community groups.

At the time the authority said the £200,000 a year needed to staff and maintain the building was unaffordable.

The plan includes a new community centre and the creation of new grass pitches, a 3G all-weather pitch, changing rooms and extra car parking on the site.

Additional money amounting to sums of £600,000 and £500,000 has been secured from the Football Foundation and Towns Fund respectively.

Councillor Mick Saunders, from the Beckfield and Park End ward, said he was "fully supportive" of the plans along with his fellow ward councillors, Councillor Brian Hubbard and Councillor Stephen Hill.