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The Oasis Sports Centre in Holburn |
Oasis to be upgraded
£1m investment follows New Journal exposé
LEISURE chiefs have agreed to invest £1million in the Oasis Sports Centre in Holborn, just months after a New Journal investigation revealed the urgent need for repairs that threatened to close it.
The Town Hall unveiled plans for an overhaul of the building which has got an unenviable reputation for dirty changing rooms and hot water breakdowns.
Camden’s Liberal Democrat leisure chief Councillor Flick Rea said: “We know that the Oasis is a valuable sports and fitness facility. That’s why we are investing in its future. Giving the centre a bit of a facelift now and carrying out work on the changing rooms and swimming pools later this year will really improve services.”
The announcement follows the New Journal’s revelation in February that the council had been warned that many of the centre’s essential fixtures and fittings are on their last legs.
Documents obtained by this newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act showed how surveyors had warned officials that action was needed urgently to “guarantee” the future of the centre.
The exposé led to familiar concerns among Labour ward councillors that areas in the south of the borough are last in the queue for investment with comparisons made to the head-to-toe refit of the Victorian baths in Prince of Wales Road, Kentish Town.
Cllr Rea said residents and users of the centre in Endell Street – perhaps most fondly regarded for its rooftop lido which attracts thousands of swimmers in the height of summer – would be consulted on what changes they wanted to see. A decision to bring in new fitness equipment to meet public demand had already been taken. There will be new carpets and a lick of paint, according to the council.
Most of the work will begin in the autumn, although some maintenance work on old steam boilers has already begun.
The council said the overhaul would not mean extra spending because it was covered by its contract with Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL), the private operators running most of Camden’s leisure services. |
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