£800,000 to repair roof of Swallow’s Leisure Centre

Plans to replace the leisure centre roof severely damaged by storm Ciara could be approved next week.

The roof of Swallow’s Leisure Centre in Sittingbourne was damaged in February, and the council’s cabinet are being asked to approve funding of up to £800,000 for replacement work.

After looking at a range of options for the affected and surrounding roofs, the preference is for a larger replacement over the pool, sports hall, café and part of the gym.

Cllr Angela Harrison, cabinet member for health and wellbeing at the council, said:

“Despite the lockdown, we’ve been through a tender process and have come up with a plan to replace a larger area of the roof.

“If we get approval, then we’ll be able to appoint the contractors to carry out the work and get a detailed timetable for how long it will take.

“At the moment, depending on a government decision, it’s looking like the sports hall could reopen in mid-late October, and the pool a week or two later after it’s been refilled, re-chlorinated and brought back up to temperature.

“We know the groups that use the pool and sports have been impacted by this closure, on top of the enforced closure of the rest of the centre by the lockdown, but we have been working hard to move this along as fast as we can.

“When allowed, the unaffected parts of the centre have detailed plans in place for reopening and welcoming back users.”

Cabinet are being asked to approve funding for the roof on Wednesday, 8 July, as part of the financial management report.

waste of money - expand the library with the money and make the people of sittingbourne find another stretch of open water to defecate into.