New Trowbridge leisure centre discussed at area board meeting

Wiltshire Council has provided an update on its plans to develop a new leisure centre in Trowbridge following recent confirmation of its preferred location in the county town.

The update was provided at the latest Trowbridge Area Board meeting on 6 July, and was an opportunity for the council to talk through some of its engagement work and the feedback received, which has helped inform its planning up to this point.

In May, the council's East Wing site, across the road from County Hall, was chosen as the preferred location for the new leisure centre. More information on this can be found at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/new-trowbridge-lc. Before that decision was made, the council carried out extensive local engagement to find out what type of leisure services people use.

Almost 1,000 people took a survey in the summer and autumn of 2022 and it showed that people who use leisure centres use the pool the most, whether that be lane or family swimming sessions (31%) followed by the gym (21%), and then fitness classes (13%). Of those surveyed, swimming was the activity that people wanted to do more of (selected by 23% of respondents).

The council also engaged with more than 550 young people to get their views. It was found that the most common place used by young people to do exercise was their PE lessons. Of those surveyed, 30% said they don't use any of the current leisure centres in Trowbridge. Among young people, swimming was rated the most popular activity and something they would like to do more of.

As well as the engagement work, the council also gathered a range of evidence, which included looking at the usage of existing facilities, analysis of potential catchment areas and looking at the barriers to people participating in leisure activities. All of this work has been carried out using guidance from Sport England.

Looking ahead, in the coming month the council hopes to be in a position to confirm the suppliers that it will be working with on the leisure centre project, such as project specialists, architects and engineers.

Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Public Health, said: It was useful to provide some context at the area board which demonstrated our valuable planning, research and evidence gathering, which all contributed to the selection of the proposed site and facilities. From this, when the centre is built, it will have the best possible opportunity to benefit people of all ages for the long-term.

We're in the process of confirming who we will be working with on this exciting project and we're looking forward to seeing our vision start to take shape.

Regular updates on the project will be available at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/new-trowbridge-lc.