People in Felixstowe will next month have a chance to say what leisure provision they would like to see at the resort following the announcement of a multi-million pound project to revamp facilities.
Suffolk Coastal District Council has put forward plans to create new state-of-the-art facilities on the edge of the town as part of a 100-plus acre venture to provide homes, jobs, care home and a new school.
The site would stretch from the dock spur roundabout to Old Felixstowe, bordered to the north by Gulpher Road, and include the council’s Eastward Ho outdoor sports pitches.
It is currently in several ownerships and the council is talking to the various landowners about its masterplan proposal.
A spokesman for Suffolk Coastal said nothing was set in stone yet and the aim of the Felixstowe Leisure Vision document was to showcase the potential for a multi-million pound sports and leisure development and highlight the opportunity to re-vitalise leisure facilities.
The next stage will take place in February when a survey is launched to gain initial public reaction to future needs – the consultation seeking feedback and ideas on how these future facilities could look.
“So far, no decisions have been made on the current leisure facilities in Felixstowe, so at this initial stage, we’ll be asking the public to have their say on what leisure facilities they would like to see and how they would like to use a new leisure facility,” said the council spokesman.
The leisure vision has left a question mark over what would happen to the existing Felixstowe Leisure Centre on Pier Bight, Undercliff Road West, and Brackenbury Sports Centre in High Road East – both of which date from the 1980s and which the council say are ageing and coming to the end of their useful life.
The sports centre, originally built as the sports hall for the former Felixstowe College, could see its site developed for new homes, but the seafront leisure centre would be harder to either rebuild or reuse though a leisure use would be preferred.
Currently the council is refurbishing and improving the Deben Pool complex at Woodbridge, and has just unveiled plans for a major facelift and upgrade of Leiston Leisure Centre with work set to start later this year.
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