Exciting multi-million pound plans to completely transform Altrincham Leisure Centre will be discussed by councillors.
Trafford Council’s Executive will gather on July 25 to look into the proposals for the large scale refurbishment of the popular facility on Oakfield Road in the town centre.
If approved, the centre will benefit from a 25m swimming pool, a 20m learner pool, a pool pod to improve accessibility, a combined lobby area with pool viewing and café, a wet village change and a changing places facility and a health and wellbeing facility. There would also be a wellness assessment room, enlarged fitness suite, fitness change and dry change, two flexible studio spaces, an immersive spin studio, a four court sports hall and storage, a gymnastics hub and staff rooms and offices.
The new proposed mix of facilities at Altrincham Leisure Centre has been developed with support from Sport England to deliver long-term sustainable leisure provision which gives the best health and wellbeing outcomes for residents – a long term commitment to residents from Trafford Council.
The designs also include the replacement of the fossil fuel (gas) heating system with Air Sourced Heat Pumps and Solar Panels, which are significantly more sustainable options than the existing systems, and support Trafford Council’s carbon neutral action plan. A large scale online consultation event was held with residents in January this year – and a total of 576 people responded to the consultation and were largely in favour.
The investment supports the Council’s strategy and commitment to get more people moving more often, helping improve health and wellbeing and is part of its Physical Activity Strategy, ‘Trafford Moving’. It forms part of a borough-wide long-term strategy to support the health and wellbeing of local residents through access to affordable, sustainable, accessible and exciting, modern leisure facilities. The large-scale refurbishments will be carried out on a phased arrangement with Altrincham Leisure Centre earmarked as the first to be refurbished followed by both Stretford and Sale.
Jo Cherrett is CEO of Trafford Leisure, a community interest company, wholly owned by Trafford Council, which manages the facilities on behalf of Trafford Council and uses any profits and assets for community benefit. She said:
“We are looking forward to learning the outcome of the Executive Meeting on the 25th July and Trafford Leisure remain committed to the health and wellbeing of local residents. We know from our success in delivering the refurbishment of move Urmston, what a difference this investment would make to the Trafford community."
Trafford Council Leader, Cllr Andrew Western, said:
“We are committed to the health and wellbeing of our community, and a key element of this are the proposals to improve our much loved leisure centres, with plans to bring them up to date with modern facilities. Our fabulous refurbishment of Urmston Leisure Centre shows that we can deliver top-class facilities to help residents on their health and fitness journey. ”
If the proposals are approved, the centre will be closed over Christmas 2022 to prepare for the work being carried in January 2023. The full refurbishment of Altrincham Leisure Centre is estimated to take up to 18 months.
Posted on Friday 15th July 2022