Bridge Park community comes out fighting for its rights, Council's new plan offers less than Bridge Park currently offers

“Brent, don’t take our gold and only give us sand. 


You state you offer our Community a friendly hand...

then don’t sell our Land”

The meeting where the BPCC campaign was launched

Statement from Bridge Park Community Council February 4th 2019 about Brent Council's sale of the land at the Bridge Park Leisure Complex

The Restriction

We successfully lodged an RX1 application in September 2017 with the Land Registry, as a declaration of interest in the land on the South West Side of Brentfield Road, Stonebridge, Willesden (“Bridge Park”) Title No: NGL426015.

Brent insisted that unless we withdrew the application, they would escalate matters to the courts. They have continued to reject all our offers of cost-effective resolution, which included negotiation, ADR and HMLR Tribunal.

The Covenant

Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre (BPCLC) is a former 3.5 acres bus depot that was converted into a Leisure Centre in the 1980s using GLA funding. It has been managed by the Council for at least the last 12 years and offers 37 business units, multi-faith centre, nursery, dryside multi court sports hall, 2x Gyms, professional music studio, bar with restaurants, function hall, conferencing and meeting rooms. The Bridge Park site had a protective covenant on it, to keep it in the hands of the community. Brent Council worked with the LB Bromley (as successor body to the GLC) to have this removed.

Proposed Redevelopment of Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre

See the Brent Council Report from the Strategic Director, Regeneration and Growth and the Strategic Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods 17^th February 2014

Planning

Brent Council have hidden the exchanges and correspondence with GMH and Brent Council’s Planning department – Bridge Park is community used, owned and of huge community interest. Brent council’s dealings should be made public and particularly all related planning and pre-planning exchanges. Bridge Park currently has more facilities than that offered by Brent in their latest revised plan announced 1^st February 2019.

Conditional Sale Agreement (CLSA)

We now have possession of the CLSA ‘sale’ document. Brent are supposed to be Publicly accountable – yet, Brent Council are not operating open-handedly. All key information as to the Land sale has been removed and some 95% of pertinent details have been redacted.

The Community have said overwhelmingly that:

•       they do not wish for Bridge Park land to be sold to private developers 


•       they support BPCCs community vision 


•       Brent should observe the protective covenant schedule titled The Community 
Project that was entered onto the original HM Land Registry Title NLG426015 of 1982. 
Brent refers to consultations held in October/November 2017 in Harlesden and Stonebridge. Both meetings were attended by BPCC members, the public and the press was present. The meetings did not cover public consultation on the areas that Brent now states as the reasons for recent changes in their latest plan. The above meetings were in fact Brent Council officers, the Leaders and senior executives, in apparent partnership with the developers GMH, both presenting the Vision for the future use of the land. One contentious area was that 5% affordable housing would be made available to the community 30 of 600 homes. The consultation session and documents presented simply provided the community with options on how they wanted the gym surfaces and facilities arranged, similarly same with the planned swimming pool. The exercise was explained by Brent’s architect with the aid of drawings laying out their proposed redevelopment of the site. 
The community overwhelmingly disengaged with the consultation exercise and demanded that Brent Council not sell Bridge Park. 


The community’s restriction on the land sale places Brent Council under extreme pressure to complete the deal with GMH within deadline. We feel Brent Council have adopted a number of tactics to try to get past the court process and speed up the usual court timetable. The latest of which was an unexpected revised acceptance of our longstanding offer of mediation, in that Brent agreed to look at mediation within the month of February but on the terms that they would alongside, and at the same time apply for Summary/ Strike Out hearing of our restriction. This is set for 11am 27^th February 2019, at the Rolls Building, High Court EC4. The Strike Out is a technicality to get the case thrown out before it can be heard at a full trial, thereby rendering any mediation before 27^th February 2019, non- binding and ineffective. We see this as Brent’s attempt to get around our accusation that they have not made real or reasonable efforts to seek settlement ADR with us. 

The Conditional Land Sale Agreement (CLSA) puts Brent Council in some difficulty with settlement talks, as they will likely face huge issues if they do not go through with this commercial deal.

In summary, Brent knew prior to the sale that the community objected to it. We were not happy with the level and lack of consultation also there was no real community involvement in the process. Brent pushed through with the sale of the land and have now realised that the community effort to block any sale and our wish to be fully involved with the process is to be taken seriously.

Their recent plans do not address the fact that:

•       The community does not want Brent to Sell the land. 


•       Brent should halt the sale and now fully involve the community on the use of the 
land. 


Brent’s latest plan to sell would leave the community with significantly less facilities 
than that which Bridge Park currently offers.


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Butt offers Raheem Sterling meeting on Bridge Park in Twitter exchange

In a series of Tweets exchanged with former Brent and Kilburn Times editor Lorraine King, Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt, offered to meet with Raheem Sterling's team over provision at Bridge Park.  This follows an article in the Daily Mail where the Council was painted as less than helpful regarding Sterling's plans for a football academy on the site. LINK

Cllr Butt  returned to Twitter in December and at present only has 236 followers. He has recently had a tetchy exchange with Michael Calderbank of Brent Central Labour Party over the Time to Talk meeting on Brexit. Calderbank felt that that the meeting was constituted in a way that left no space for debate about the case for leaving the EU while Butt said that was not the purpose of the meeting.

Passions run high as community gets behind bid to save Bridge Park

If anyone had any doubts about the level of support the bid to save Bridge Park had from the local communities of Stonebridge and Harlesden they will have been dispelled this afternoon when people turned up in their hundreds to pack the Centre's hall and hear about the campaign.

Feelings ran high as the issue was put in the context of the struggle black people have had, not only in this century and the last, but for centuries before. The words of Marcus Garvey and Bob Marley were recalled as speaker after speaker pledged to defend what had been won for the community back in the early 80s when riots were taking place elsewhere.

People listened attentively as Jay Mastin, Strategic Head of Bridge Park Community Council (BPCC) outlined the legal success the organisation had won through the Land Registry, putting a stop to Brent Council's sale of the site to an off-shore developer with a conviction for fraud. Much of the case will rest on the protective Covenant that Brent Council persuaded the GLC successor body, Bromley Council, to annul. The Council is going for a summary judgment to remove the stop claiming that the BPCC had no interest and no standing in the case.

Legal assistance in such a complex area does not come cheap and the campaign, which has no political or religious affiliations, is busy fundraising and may in the longer term need up to £100,000 to fight the case - but this is over a site worth millions.

Jay took on rumours of corruption in Bridge Park head on, asking members of the audience to put up their hands if they had heard such rumours. Quite a few hands went up as he persuaded people to put it out in the open. When he asked if such rumours should meant that the Council should go ahead with the development the audience bellowed a resounding, 'No!'

The need for young people to have such a centre and the importance of education was a theme taken up by several people.  Against the background of knife crime and educational failure young people needed a place to motivate them and where they felt safe.  At the same time the community was urged to put aside its differences, take on responsibility and come together for the sake of the next generation.

Towards the end of the meeting, Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent Central, who had been in the audience, was asked where she stood. She said she had been meeting with BPCC, sometimes in public meetings, sometimes private, which she couldn't disclose.  When she said that the Council had sent out thousands of consultation letters  but had received only 50 responses, there were cries from the audience thay they hadn't seen them. She urged everyone present to make their views known so that the Council was aware of the stremgth of feeling in the community.

Shaka Lish, Green Party candidate for the Brent and Harrow constituency at next year's GLA election, was also at the meeting and said afterwards:

Brent council have behaved appallinglyand no better than a bunch of greedy crooks. If they think they can rip out the heart of Stonebridge community, they have underestimated us. We don’t want their visionless plans. We want our plans that serve, nourish and enrich our community

This was the biggest public meeting I have ever attended in Brent and it is clear that Brent Council faces a campaign that means to fight tooth and nail for its heritage.

Community urged to rally to the support of Bridge Park on Sunday afternoon as Brent Council moves to seize back the site

The Bridge Park Development site

Wembley Matters has been reporting the community's attempt  to claim back possession of the Bridge Park complex ahead of Brent Council's decision to sell the site for development to an off-shore developer. LINK LINK

The latest round of the battle will take place this Sunday, December 9th, from 2.30pm to 4.30pm following reports that Brent Council is to apply to the Land Registry for a summary hearing to lift the restriction on the sale won by Bridge Park Community Council (BPCC)  last year.

The Centre was started in the early1980s by a group of young black people from Stonebridge who wanted to contribute something positive for the community at a time when there has been uprisings against racism, police oppression and discrimination in Brixton and several English cities. LINK

The meeting is at Bridge Park Centre itself on the Harrow Road. 18 bus or Stonebridge Park station.

The Kilburn Times LINK quoted Jay Mastin, chair of BPCC:

In August 2017, an application was made by BPCC to the Land Registry to restrict Brent Council from selling Bridge Park. BPCC made several offers to negotiate with Brent Council. However, they have chosen to not come to the negotiating table. Instead they have apparently sided with commercial interests and have used council funds to take the community to the High Court. We would like support from the local community. This is our legacy. It is a building we own, we raised the money through grants, Brent are merely the custodians of it.

Bridge Park: 'We own it - we must take it back!'

An angry, passionate account of the history of Bridge Park by one of its founders Leonard Johnson. He rallies the Black community to get behind the campaign for Bridge Park and calls on them to ignore rumours that attempt to undermine his reputation.

'Brent is stealing our Bridge Park legacy...it is part of our Black Heritage'

A legal battle is on between Brent Council and the Afro-Caribbean community of Stonebridge, Harlesden and Monks Park over the future of Bridge Park.  The centre is part of a Council redevelopment project that includes the long-empty Unisys building.  It is much more than a legal battle - it is a battle for the beating heart of the local community.

Wembley Matters has covered the dodgy nature of some of Brent Council's partners in their development scheme and this was reinforced by trenchant criticism of the Council by the late Dan Filson. LINK  LINK

Young visionaries in what was then a bus depot

Bridge Park was set up by young black people in the 80s at a time of the uprisings. It is part of black heritage in the borough that came from the grassroots, just as the Stonebridge Adventure Playground, closed by the council, also had its roots in the community and amongst the young.

A community group, Bridge Park Community Council, set up to save the centre from the council plans have put forward their own alternative which is rooted in the community and continues the original ethos of Bridge Park when the Harlesden People's Community Council organised to purchase the old bus depot:

BPCC successfully appealed to the Land Registry over the sale of the land and it was blocked  but now the council is fighting back through legal action.

A fundraising campaign is now underway to take the council on: LINK
and there is a petition of to stop the sale and return control and development of the Bridge Park site to the community HERE


BPCC's short-term plan is:

(a) To show the “London Borough of Brent” that we have an interest in the land, and to therefore suspend the sale of the Land and property referred to as “Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre”.
(b) To secure the Community interest in the Land and property by means of legal, public and political action.
(c) To develop a self-sustaining Centre of Excellence providing educational, Technology, social, well-being and commercial facilities.
(d) To encourage Brent Council and all parties to engage with BPCC in peaceful timely negotiation (ADR), Mediation or Arbitration as opposed to costly litigation with a view of coming to an agreement in relation to the Community’s control and interest in the said Land and Property.

  EMPOWERING OUR COMMUNITY

                   WE NEED YOU...!!!!


THANK YOU FOR CONTINUED SUPPORT TO SAVE BRIDGE PARK LAND & COMPLEX

*FIRSTLY - BRIDGE PARK IS NOT SOLD.

Bridge Park Community Council as successor to HPCC established Bridge Park Complex Steering Group, to protect the interest, control and development of the Bridge Park Land and Properties for the community. 

In the 1980s, HPCC, founded by a group of young 16-20 year olds, who followed their vision and desire to serve the community, and to ensure that the young men and women growing up in Stonebridge, N.W London had facilities and opportunities to empower them to succeed.  They bought the land supported by sourced grant funding of £1.8m. 

They raised a further £3m+ along backing to design and build the current Bridge Park Complex seen today. The original vision was for the creation of educational, commercial business units, sports and multi-purpose facilities.  The land is estimated to be worth over £50 million on the open market.

In order for HPCC to obtain the funds, Brent Council acted as custodians ONLY: with no right to sell, transfer or dispose of the land, acquired by the community for the community. The Bridge Park site had a protective covenant on the land.  Brent Council officers removed the covenant prior to February 2014.  The community were not informed. [Wembley Matters here is the LINK to the report to the Brent Executive in June 2013 which states: The Bridge Park site had a covenant on it that sports and community uses should be protected and around half of any value of any development would have to paid to the LB Bromley (as successor body to the GLC). However officers have successfully re moved this covenant.]

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Experienced Lawyers, (DWFM Beckman, London) have been engaged, and advice has been taken from a Senior Counsel, specialising in this area of Law and Chancery.

*Brent Council entered into the Conditional Land Sale Agreement with General Mediterranean Holding (GMH) as guarantor, for the sale of the Bridge Park Complex in June 2017.  A strict condition of the sale is that the land must be free of all interests. Brent Council plan to allow development worth over £800 million on the land, but aim to sell off the Land and 42x Business Units, 2x restaurants, Bar, 2x Gyms, full size In-door Basketball and Badmintons Courts, plus Multi-faith centre and Nursery buildings all this for less than £13 million Brent  will not fully disclose the lower price. THIS DID NOT GO TO TENDER !!!

HPCC in association with successor's BPCC Steering Group and S.C. Trust (HPCC) Ltd the land.

An application to the Land Registry to restrict Brent Council, to stop the Sale of Bridge Park was made in August 2017, through our lawyers.

Brent Council have been given an extension of 30 days to file their documents to challenge this restriction.

***** WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT *****

Our community needs a lot more than a Gym & Swimming Pool.

We will build an iconic Centre of Excellence  for The Community by The Community. Addressing our Educational, Social and Commercial needs. And most of all it will be self funded and sustained.

A land mark building upon which we can take pride in.

Come and get involved - Sign the petition against Brent Council's plans

WE NEED  our community building to be kept in the hands of the COMMUNITY in PERPETUITY!!

Help us to raise the much needed funds for the legal challenge to halt the sale of Bridge Park.

WE NEED TO FIRST RAISE THE INITIAL £10,000 OF THE £25,000 FOR OUR LEGAL DEPOSIT, TO FIGHT OUR CASE IN THE HIGH COURT, LONDON.

Email:    info@bridgeparkcomplex.com
Details of BPCC's vision can be seen on their website HERE  

The officers' report to the Brent Executive in June 2013 stated:

Our officers have carried out a new Equality Analysis. There are a number of important conclusions. The first is that Bridge Park has been important in serving an important part of Brent’s Afro-Caribbean community. Removing the sports centre would strongly negatively impact on this group. The area has one of the strongest increase in under 5’s in the whole of Brent. Over 88,000 of the 447,000 people within a three mile catchment of the centre are under 16 years of age (20% compared with a borough average of 16%). The starter business units that would not be replaced do have a high proportion of people from Afro-caribbean background.

TONIGHT! People's Vote on Brexit campaign meeting, Bridge Park, 6.30pm

Join local volunteers for a community meeting to hear more about campaigning in Brent for a People's Vote on any Brexit deal, and find out how you can get involved.

The meeting will also be attended by a representative of People's Vote HQ, giving you the opportunity to hear more about the next phases of the People's Vote campaign and ask any questions that you may have.

If you are able to attend, please RSVP  HERE so that we know how many people to expect.

See you there!

WHEN

November 23, 2018 at 6:30pm - 8:30pm

WHERE

Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre
Brentfield
Harrow Road
London NW10 0RG
United Kingdom
Google map and direction

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Bridge Park redevelopment: 'HEAR OUR VOICES!' Please sign the petition

I have been asked to publicise this petition. You can read a previous article about the background here: LINK

 Petitioning: cllr.ernest.ezeajughi@brent.gov.uk


In February 2014 Brent Council proposed the redevelopment of Bridge Park Leisure Centre. In January last year the Brent Cabinet gave formal approval for the "Purchaser" GMH to enter into a Conditional Land Sale Agreement (CLSA). This means that the Council will now engage with the local residents, users and members to ensure that certain conditions regarding planning and financial assurances are met. We, the local community and members have a vested interest in ensuring that we are consulted in any decisions made.  Bridge Park Leisure Centre was open by Prince Charles in 1987, and has welcomed people from all walks of life. People of all cultures and ages have enjoyed the facilities for over 30 years. We don't want to see Bridge Park become a privately run leisure centre, where we the local community become the OUTSIDER.  

We want to be CONSULTED, we want to be satisfied that our voice is HEARD.

Redevelopment is a must, but let us have a say!!!

Sign the petition HERE

The murk behind Brent Council's Bridge Park deal that was opposed by the community last week

Bridge Park Complex with Unisys on the horizon

The Kilburn Times LINK today reports on a heated consultation meeting regarding the redevelopment of Bridge Park, Stonebridge, and the surrounding area including the Unisys landmark building. There were demands for the land sale to be halted.

The newspaper quotes Jay Martin of the Bridge Park Community Council as saying:
This is not a consultation, it's a fait accompli. It looks like this deal has already been done and decided. There are moral questions and legal questions to answer. There's the possibility that this whole thing might end up in a judicial hearing. 

 The moral and questions that Martin refers to are presumably directed at Brent Council's off-shore partners in this development.

The late and sorely missed Cllr Dan Filson who, while a Labour councillor, had a strong streak of independence, responded to Cllr Pavey's suggestion that tax havens had to be tackled at national level rather than local government, with this comment on Wembly Matters LINK:

I must say I was surprised that whilst mentioning the two companies involved were neither incorporated nor registered in the UK, the Cabinet paper did not mention that they were registered in tax havens namely Luxembourg and the BVI, nor that the leading shareholder in the holding company was a convicted fraudster. A quick Google search revealed this.

Possibly the council officers preparing the report felt these issues did not matter given the safeguarding phrase that the decision of Cabinet would be subject to meeting financial scrutiny (quite how these financial checks would succeed given that they had not succeeded in the months leading up to Cabinet was not made clear!).

The wider issue of the ethics of dealing with tax haven companies wasn't touched upon at all nor the fraudster angle. I understand Councillor Pavey's position that it needs government action to deal with tax haven companies (to say nothing of persons being company directors of overseas companies who, by my book, should be disqualified from holding any positions of trust in any company trading or owning land in this country).

However Brent can have its own policies; but what should they be here? The land south of the North Circular Road at Stonebridge Park has been a derelict eyesore for a couple of decades. Brent can engineer development here by intervention using such land as it has as a bargaining tool. If we take the ethical route and don't treat with tax haven companies will we get better or worse terms from other companies? Conceivably could Councillors be surcharged for not getting "best value" in a deal? Will any action happen on this site at all for another decade?

I don't know how I would respond on these issues. My disappointment was that no attempt has been made to address them before this particular decision came to Cabinet despite the identity of these 2 companies being known for some time, years even. So the Cabinet was obliged to agree to a deal involving these two companies without a financial appraisal in front if it and without a stated policy on dealing with tax haven companies. It leaves an unpleasant taste.

Ex Inspector of Taxes, Philip Grant, LINK revealed a link with Quintain:

 When offshore companies are involved, that will always raise suspicions about who is really behind them, and whether tax avoidance may be involved, although in this case you can read a little about GMH on Wikipedia:-

'The General Mediterranean Holding (GMH) is a financial holding company established in 1979 in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg, founded by Anglo-Iraqi businessman Nadhmi Auchi.

GMH is a diverse business group with activities in Banking & Finance, Real Estate & Construction, Hotel & Leisure, Industrial, Trading & Pharmaceuticals, Communications & IT and Aviation.'

The (publicly available) details do not say in which overseas territory Harborough Invest Inc. is incorporated, or resident for tax purposes.

By chance, I have come across GMH's "agent", Nick Shattock, before, when I was an Inspector of Taxes, and he was a director of Quintain Estates and Developments Plc (having previously been a partner in a firm of City solicitors). That information is on public record, and (of course) I cannot disclose anything which happened when I was responsible for dealing with the Quintain group's company tax affairs, because of Civil Service confidentiality.

As a (past) director of Quintain (the developer behind Wembley Park), it is likely that Mr Shattock has already had dealings with Brent's Strategic Director of Regeneration and Growth, Andy Donald. The report to Cabinet proposes that negotiations over the "deal" between Brent and GMH should be left in the hands of Mr Donald (as the "deal" with Galliford Try over the Willesden Green Library Centre redevelopment was).

Persuaded? Definitely not!

In January of this year Cabinet approved the land deal for Bridge Park nd Labour defeated Cllr John Warren's move at Full Council to have it debated. The is an extract from my report of the meeting:

In the course of the resultant discussion Cllr Warren, speaking to Muhammed Butt, Leader of the Council, referred to 'Your friend Mr Auchi'.  Sir Nadhmi Shakir Auchi is Chairman of the off-shore British Virgin Islands company General Mediterranean Holdings (GMH) which is Brent Council's partner in the redevelopment of Bridge Park.  Muhammed Butt is the lead member for the conditional land sale of the Bridge Park site to GMH.

At the Brent Cabinet on January 16th Cllr Margaret McLennan, Deputy Leader of the Council, said that she was 'thrilled' by the Bridge Park deal. LINK

Auchi is controversial because of a 2003 allegation of  fraud LINK and of course the whole issue of tax havens and tax avoidance is a current political issue with Jeremy Corbyn promising action by a future Labour Government.

Cllr Thomas intervened to call for Cllr Warren to withdraw his statement about 'Your friend Mr Auchi' directed at his leader, as the Council Meeting was being streamed and he wouldn't want a 'wrong impression' to be given. Warren, saying he couldn't remember exactly what  he'd said,went on to say, 'Mr Auchi has connections with the Labour Party. Let me say that. That is what I was referring to.'

The alleged link goes back to 2001 when the Guardian published an article entitled 'A Tycoon, a Minister and Interpol' LINK and involved Keith Vaz MP.

Controversial Bridge Park regeneration consultation - November sessions

Readers will remember the controversy over the Bridge Park (Stonebridge) development when Brent Council entered agreements with what some felt were rather dodgy overseas registered property companies. LINK

In particular concern centred around General Mediterranean Holdings (GMH)  and its Chairman Sir Nadhmi Avichi who had faced fraud allegations in 2003. Cllr John Warren in January tried to get a debate on the issue, and in particular Avichi's links with the Labour Party LINK but his motion was defeated by the overwhelming majority of the Labour Group.

The proposals include a new hotel and housing that  is unlikely to be truly affordable for local people.  There will be no space for the small businesses that are currently housed on site and apart from the added swimming pool at the Leisure Centre  I understand overall space is smaller as function rooms will not be provided.  The question arises about whether the replacement will be a public facility or run by a private company.

Now the proposals are coming up for public consultation  (two for Lead Members, ward councillors and local residents took place earlier this week)  This is the consultation notice as it appears on Brent Council's website:

2 November 2017, 6.30pm to 9pm, Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre

See events in: Public consultations

Top of Form

Public Consultation on the redevelopment of Bridge Park

• Update residents on progress with the sale of the land
• Share information on the wider Bridge Park redevelopment proposals
• Seek input on the emerging design for the new leisure centre

Date: Thursday 2 November

Location: Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre

Time: 6.30pm -7pm (Presentation) 7pm - 9pm (Drop-in session)

Have your say on the Bridge Park redevelopment, complete our online consultation survey before 3 December 2017.

Bridge Park redevelopment

Brent Council is working with the owners of the Unisys site situated adjacent to the Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre in Stonebridge on exciting proposals to regenerate the site for new homes, businesses and a brand new leisure centre with improved facilities.

Background

In June 2013, Brent Council looked at options for developing the Unisys and Bridge Park sites for residential and commercial development to fund a new sports centre. In February 2014, council consulted with the public on four options for the layout of the new facility. Option three was chosen and includes:

• four court sports hall     
• 65 station gym
• Smaller separate gym
• Children’s soft play area and party room      
• Sauna and steam rooms
• Studios
• Spin studio
• Small meeting room
• 50 car parking spaces      
• Four lane swimming pool with moveable floor

In June 2017, the Council entered into a Conditional Land Sale Agreement (CLSA) with the purchaser.

What’s next?

• Progress plans for the new leisure centre and re-development proposals
• Further consultation events with the public 
• Purchase additional land

Information about public consultation dates will be publicised widely.

Contact

For further information about the project contact

• Project Manager- Tanveer Ghani 
• Email- Tanveer.ghani@brent.gov.uk

FAQs

What is the Conditional Land Sale Agreement (CLSA)?    

The CLSA is a time-limited contract between the Council and the developer. The CLSA includes a range of terms and conditions that need to be met in order to complete the sale of Council land to the developer. Please refer to the reports highlighted in the ‘Things to Read’ section for further information about the CLSA.

When will the current Bridge Park Community Leisure Centre (BPCLC) close?  

The Council’s plan is to keep the current Bridge Park Leisure Centre open until the CLSA is completed. We expect BPCLC to be kept open until the Summer of 2019 and further communications will be provided in due course.

Will BPCLC close once the CLSA is completed? 

Yes, the current facility will have to close for redevelopment to start.

When is the redevelopment expected to begin and how long will it last?  

 It is too early to say at this stage although we don’t expect anything to happen on the site until 2019 at the earliest. The immediate target is satisfy the terms and conditions for completing the CLSA. At key milestones of the project, the Council will continue to publish updates online and through local press.

What will the new leisure centre, hotel and housing look like?

Architects Roberts Limbrick will consult with members of the public on design proposals for the new leisure centre.

Detailed consultation plans are below (Click bottom right to enlarge):