New documents submitted for £8m Warsop health hub as facility moves forward

Mansfield Council has submitted an application to its own planning department for the new leisure centre, which is being brought forward as part of its £12.3m Towns Fund package.

The authority is allocating £3m from the Government pot to create the new facility, and £1m-£1.5m is requested from Sport England, although the Government-supported sports body has yet to confirm how much money it will provide.

Now documents submitted by the authority have confirmed the building will be a single-storey facility in the south-east corner of Carr Lane Park, off Carr Lane.

Documents show the hub would include 44 standard parking spaces, four disabled spaces and three electric charging spaces, taking the total to 51.

The documents, submitted by developer Roberts Limbrick on behalf of the council, say the facility would act as a replacement for the Meden Sports Centre, which was closed by Nottinghamshire Council in 2018 after the Mansfield Independent Forum-administration at Mansfield Council withdrew from its management.

The documents said: “The proposals are for a replacement community leisure facility in Warsop following the closure of Meden Sports Centre.

“It will provide a high-quality leisure provision for the community to encourage active participation.

“The internal and external spaces are designed to be flexible, simple and low-maintenance, but also robust and attractive.”

The documents show the hub would be a single-storey building featuring “flexible, multi-purpose spaces that can be intensively used for a variety of activity and fitness uses”.

It will include an eight metres by 15m swimming pool with water play facilities, a gym suite and a multi-purpose hall which can be used for badminton and basketball, as well as a reception area, cafe, meeting and community room and viewing area, “supported by the generous gender-neutral changing village”.

Coun Craig Whitby, council portfolio holder for corporate and finance, previously said: “We are committed to the idea of building these new leisure facilities in Warsop.

“This will transform a huge part of our community. The people are on our side, the experts are on our side, and we are one step away from getting this over the line.”

The council’s planning committee will review the application at a future meeting.