Work will begin on a new £9m community hub, including a swimming pool, in Warsop in the summer.

Mansfield District Council has been offered a £1.8m capital grant by Sport England to kick-start the Warsop Health Hub project, based at Carr Lane Park, off Carr Lane.

Once complete in October 2024, the hub will include a new 15x 8 metre swimming pool, splash play area, changing village, fitness suite,  multi-purpose hall, café, viewing and IT area, multi-purpose meeting / community space, and a new and improved multi-use games area.

The scheme is one of six projects included in the council’s bid to the Government’s Towns Fund.

Of the £12.3m awarded from the fund to the district, £3m is allocated to the health hub plan. The council will provide £1.5m from reserves and the shortfall will be made from council borrowing to bring the project to fruition, making the final project cost £9.2m.

The council was also successful in its bid to create a Changing Place at the hub, and was offered £103,967 of funding. The application for the hub has been given full planning permission by the council’s Planning Committee.

Serco Leisure Ltd/More Leisure Community Trust will operate the centre with work to begin on the site in the summer.

Coun Andy Burgin, portfolio holder for Environment and Leisure, said it was brilliant news to receive more than expected in bid for funds and to see the project begin to take shape.

“We are absolutely thrilled not to have just been successful in our bid for funding to progress our plans at Warsop, but also to have received additional funds of £300,000 to accelerate the program further,” he said.

“I’m pleased to say our work doesn’t stop here in trying to secure further funding to support this project, which may reduce the council’s borrowing level further.

“We are committed to improving health and wellbeing facilities in the area and, with the offer of a grant from Sport England and full planning permission, we can now press ahead with these exciting plans for Warsop.

“Following a consultation with residents in 2020 about what their priorities were and what they wanted to see in the area, we are delivering this new health hub that’s packed with new facilities inside and outside with the new and improved multi-use games area.

“I want to thank the whole team – both at the council and our wider community groups and partners – who put the case together for this successful bid, and I look forward to the project moving to the next stage.”

The plan for the hub follows detailed research commissioned by the council in 2019 into the leisure and community provision in Warsop. This work was supported by Vibrant Warsop, Warsop Parish Council and Active Notts, and community groups, members of the local community, and partner organisations were all asked for their views at consultation events and in a community-wide survey.

Lisa Dodd-Mayne, executive director, Place at Sport England, said: “Sport England’s Uniting the Movement strategy aims to provide opportunities for all people to access sport and physical activity, regardless of their backgrounds, bank balance or postcodes. Accessible, flexible and inclusive local facilities that enable people to play sport and get active are vital for our communities to lead happy and healthy lives.

“The Warsop Health Hub is one of the first facilities to use our new Leisure Local concept and the site will work towards the vision set out in our recent ‘Future of Public Leisure’ report. The opportunities to get active that will be made possible by the development of the Hub are exciting to see and will benefit the community for years to come.”

Brian Taylor, chair of More Leisure Community Trust added: “We are delighted that Mansfield District Council has chosen More Leisure Community Trust and our operating partner, Serco Leisure, to manage this exciting new multi-purpose health and fitness facility.

“Coming out of the pandemic, we have seen huge demand for our other centres in Mansfield, and we fully expect the Warsop Health Hub, once opened, to join Water Meadows Leisure Complex, Rebecca Adlington Leisure Centre and Oak Tree Leisure Centre as one of the go-to destinations for the health and fitness needs of the local community.”