Sport England’s Project Committee has approved a conditional lottery award of £1.5M towards the development of the East Cambridgeshire District Leisure Centre.

At its full council meeting in June, East Cambridgeshire District Council agreed to proceed with the new District Leisure Centre project, subject to receiving £1.5M funding from Sport England. Confirmation of lottery award means the project is now fully funded and can go ahead.

The money will come from Sport England’s Strategic Facilities Fund which offers significant investment to local authorities looking to make large scale improvements to their sports facilities.

Sport England property director, Charles Johnston, said:

“We are delighted to offer £1.5 million of National Lottery funding to help people in East Cambridgeshire live more active lives. With plans for an impressive range of sporting facilities, this new centre will be huge asset for the region. I wish the council every success in delivering this first-class facility.”

The funding will enable the construction of the new leisure centre which will include an eight lane 25m swimming pool, a learner pool with moveable floor, a health and fitness suite with 120 stations, two activity studios, a four court sports hall and a 3G artificial grass pitch.

The preferred contractor to build the new leisure centre is a company called Pellikaan, who specialise in designing and constructing leisure facilities.

Once complete, GLL, who are a large leisure trust, operating over 200 leisure facilities across the country, will manage the new facilities on the council's behalf once it opens.

Cllr Richard Hobbs, Chairman of Commercial Services said:

“We are thrilled to receive support from Sport England, which as a result, means that we can deliver a top class leisure facility for East Cambridgeshire. This funding is pivotal for the progression of the centre and I look forward to the work commencing in due course.”

The leisure centre Reserved Matters planning application has also been approved. Work is expected to start on-site in September 2016 with the facility due to open in early 2018.