Enfield Council will enter into an agreement with Greenwich Leisure Ltd that includes £7.5m of investment and a transfer of control, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Enfield Council is aiming to reopen Edmonton Leisure Centre by the middle of next year after securing a £7.5million funding package to carry out major repair works and upgrades.

However, a new agreement with leisure operator Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) will see the lease of the facility transferred to GLL, meaning the centre would no longer be under direct council control.

Upgrades could include a new ten-pin bowling alley, in an attempt to make the centre commercially viable after losing money for several years.

The facility in Fore Street has been closed since last December due to a range of serious structural issues, some of which go back as far as 2007 when the part-residential building was completed by developer St Modwen, now part of Crosstree Real Estate Partners.

GLL carried out a building assessment at Edmonton Leisure Centre between January and March, soon after taking over the management of the council’s leisure facilities from Fusion Lifestyle last year, and estimated the full cost of getting the centre back to an ‘acceptable standard’ to be £4.38m.

At a cabinet meeting yesterday (Wednesday 16th) Chinelo Anyanwu, cabinet member for environment, culture and public spaces, revealed the council’s plan to finally reopen the facility.

She said the centre would be reopened in phases, with the first phase anticipated for completion within six months.

To fund the work, the council is set to agree a ‘shared investment partnership’ with GLL, which would see the local authority pay £2.5m up front to cover essential maintenance works.

With the lease handed to GLL as part of the deal, the money invested by the council would be repaid by the centre’s new owners over 30 years, with the company also investing an additional £5m to upgrade and add new facilities to the building.

Cllr Anyanwu said: “This report sets out our plan to invest in Edmonton Leisure Centre and begin the process to reopen the site. The initial reopening phase will be completed within six months.

“We acknowledge that the closure of Edmonton Leisure Centre has had a significant impact on our local community, particularly our young people and our fitness programmes.”

A council report explaining the plan in more detail also revealed that Edmonton Leisure Centre as it stands is commercially worthless, since £1.8m is needed “to simply address the serious health and safety issues and breaches of legislation” at the facility, including “faults with the fire safety system”.

A further £2.5m is needed to tackle issues such as roof leaks, and “the corrosion of the steel supporting beams above the pool hall”.

The report states that the cause of the issues “has been a combination of building design faults and other faults that have developed whilst maintenance responsibility was provided by the previous leisure operator”.

Cllr Anyanwu added: “Reopening the centre will support public health, social inclusion, and youth engagement. Once reopened, the centre will offer a standard range of services including fitness programmes, swimming lessons and community support groups.”

The proposed list of facilities and activities GLL is aiming to provide as part of its upgrade are a 92-station gym, swimming, fitness classes, soft and adventure play for children, ten-pin bowling and trampolining.

Cllr Anyanwu added: “There will be a whole host of different activities; our team is pairing together with leisure so we’re bound to see great improvement and attraction in the area.”

In a statement following the meeting, Peter Bundey, GLL’s chief executive officer, said: “We are pleased that in partnership with Enfield Council, we have a solution that will secure the long-term future of Edmonton Leisure Centre and enable us to carry out the vital renovations it requires.

“We anticipate a phased reopening of the centre, once a series of essential works are completed.”

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