The redevelopment of Spalding’s Castle Sports Complex is to be welcomed but we’d like to highlight some factors which we do not welcome.
We come at this as two friends, residents of Spalding, users of the leisure complex and parents.
We appreciate that the initial £28.3million investment – with £20million of government Levelling Up Funding – is significant and not everybody’s wishes can be realised in the final project.
However, there are some woeful omissions and inclusions by South Holland District Council.
And did you realise the £28.3million only covers the first of the three phases? The other two are, as yet, unfunded. Another massive (unfinished) project in Spalding springs to mind when that point is considered.
The new swimming pool area will have a larger learner pool alongside the main pool but no diving pool, as the current one enjoyed for many years. It will not have a leisure element such as a slide or wave machine, which users at dated pools in Bourne and Boston enjoy.
Without any of these features, the attraction as a family destination will be vastly reduced.
Nor will the new main pool have a moveable floor, which the vast majority of newly-built pools have.
A moveable floor, which enables the levels of depth to be easily altered temporarily, was in the initial plans. This was welcomed by the water polo and competitive swimming clubs. However, it was axed at the 11th hour when costs rose.
Another omission? A sauna, which the current facility has. Leading SHDC member Coun Gary Taylor described it in June 2024 as “always popular and busy whenever I have been there.”
So a revenue stream lost by short-sightedness. And a wellbeing facility not included in a project billed as a wellbeing hub.
Outside, scheduled in the unfunded phase two plan, is a splash zone with water fountains for kids to play in and, according to the illustrations, a mediocre children’s play area.
The fountains installed at Cathedral Square in Peterborough at great expense were forever riddled with health and safety and mechanical issues before being mothballed.
SHDC believes children will want to be in the splash zone all year round. Really?
And if the aim of the wooden play area is to attract families then it needs to be on a much grander scale than a trim trail found in many primary school playgrounds. Why not think on the scale of the structures at Burghley House, Sandringham and Belton House? Attractions which bring in families and – importantly – revenue.
To be clear, our concerns were submitted when the council consulted upon the project plans. When the latest iteration became clear, we felt we could not stand by and say nothing.
After contacting our MP, Sir John Hayes, he shared some of our concerns and arranged for us all to meet with Matthew Hogan, the council’s assistant director for strategic growth and development. This took place on November 28 last year.
It was stated that some of our points would be fed back to the project team. To date, we have had no further contact from the council.
When Coun Taylor, the project sponsor, was urged to intervene last month, he supplied a very comprehensive response on each point, which unfortunately stated that nothing would be changing.
So, yes, there will be significant improvements in the offering at the new Castle Activity and Fitness Centre – assuming funding for the final two phases does come to fruition.
But we say this is a project to serve many generations well beyond our own and it’s shameful and utterly disappointing to say it’s a missed opportunity in so many ways.
Nigel Chapman and
Emma Potts
Spalding
