Gurnell Leisure Centre Unlikely To Reopen

Council say huge pressure on finances makes operation uneconomic


Gurnell Leisure Centre

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Ealing Council are considering the option of not reopening the Gurnell Leisure Centre even if new government guidelines due to be announced would allow it to do so.

The move would mean that the earliest possible date for a leisure centre to be available to the public at this location would be February 2024 and that would presume the development of the site is not subject to any delays.

Originally the centre was supposed to remain open at least until the end of this year depending on the progress of the application to redevelop the site.

The council say reopening would mean that it would have to return to subsidising the cost of running the centre at a time when the council’s finances are under ‘huge pressure’ due to reductions in central government grants and the multi-million pound hole in the budget cause by the pandemic.

An Ealing Council spokesman said, “As a result, the council is considering not reopening the centre at the point when it is allowed to do so by the government, and proceeding to redevelopment instead, pending planning approval. As well as providing brand new, state-of-the-art leisure facilities, including a 10 lane 50m pool, a new leisure pool, a gym, soft play facilities, a sauna, a steam room and a café, the project will also deliver almost 600 desperately needed homes, helping the council towards its target of creating 2,500 genuinely affordable new homes by April 2022 – the most ambitious council homebuilding plans in London.”

CGI of Gurnell scheme from the developer's web site
CGI of Gurnell scheme from the developer's web site

The centre has been operated on Ealing Council’s behalf by the leisure contractor GLL since 2006.

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, lead member for finance and leisure said, “The impact of COVID19 on the leisure sector has been monumental and unprecedented. As much as I loved swimming at and enjoying Gurnell, I am sad that we must take this decision to not reopen it and instead push forward with our ambitious plans to rebuild an even bigger, better and brighter future with a new Gurnell on the site. The costs of maintaining the current site for what would eventually be a very limited opening would have reflected an astronomical cost to local taxpayers per swim, at a time when we have already been left short changed to the tune of millions of pounds by the government after having dealt with the local impact of COVID19 and ten years of cuts to our funding.

“The new facility will offer a great space to keep local residents fit and active and will be enjoyed by the whole community for many years to come. By allowing much-needed new homes to be built at the site, we can deliver a fantastic new centre while making best use of the land available to us. Whilst we undergo the long exciting redevelopment of Gurnell, alternative options are available at Ealing’s three other facilities – Northolt Leisure Centre, Everyone Active Acton Centre and Dormers Wells Leisure Centre.”

The council agreed to the redevelopment because they were unable to fully fund the rebuilding of the leisure centre from its own resources. Originally it was announced that the full cost of the development would be met by Ecoworld, but last year the deal was renegotiated and it appeared that the council would have to pay for the building of around 200 of the housing units which would be classed as affordable. The report which included the cost of this new arrangement was deemed confidential. It is not clear whether the amount payable by the council has changed with the revised proposal.

CGI of the new leisure centre
CGI of the new leisure centre

Plans for the redevelopment of the centre were recently submitted by Ecoworld who will building a huge residential scheme on the site with just under 600 flats. There will be six tall towers in the development, the highest of which will be 17 storeys and 1,800 people are expected to live in the scheme when it is completed. The development will require building on Metropolitan Open Land.

The current design for the leisure centre, which it has been estimated will cost £40 million, will see it house one of only four indoor 50m swimming pools in the capital.


CGI of the pool in the new centre

The application reference is 201695FUL which you can use to search on Ealing Council’s planning portal to make comments. At the time of writing there were over 670 comments most of which were objections. The Stop the Gurnell Overdevelopment campaign currently has a petition online with over 3,000 signatures.

The project will be launched in phases with full completion expected in January 2026.

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July 9, 2020

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