Contractors are on site today (Monday, 26 February) to start preparatory work for the planned brand-new replacement for Bedworth Leisure Centre.
This includes enabling works beginning with removal of specific trees and cutting back of vegetation.
The Bedworth Physical Activity Hub, once completed, will provide a new physical activity centre including a gym, sports hall, and swimming pools, a new skate park, a 9v9 all-weather football pitch and a replacement car park, along with outdoor active design works in Miners’ Welfare Park.
Some landscaping and a new, safer pedestrian crossing at Sergeant Simon Valentine Way will link the town centre to a new entrance into the park.
The new facility is scheduled to be open in the autumn of next year, with the full development due to be completed in spring 2026.
Cllr Sue Markham, Portfolio Holder for Public Services, said:
“We have worked extremely hard to get to this point.
“It will be very exciting to see this building start to emerge from the ground in the months to come.
“We recognise there will be some disruption to people living nearby and to park users.
“Once we are on site, we intend to really get cracking.”
Cllr Julian Gutteridge, Portfolio Holder for Health and Environment at Nuneaton, said:
“We have looked very carefully at the impact on the park that this development will have.
“Unfortunately, the first thing people will see is the removal of trees from the heart of the site.
“This has to happen or the building can’t go ahead.
“To mitigate this, we will plant more than 100 trees in a number of locations in the park.
“We need to move a lot of earth to create a flat site needed for the building and the new all-weather football pitch.
“We expect that work to take place during April.
“We will do our best to keep people up to date with the work being done as we make progress on site.”