Work under way at Rasen’s £6.3m sports centre

An artists impression of the leisure centre

Earlier this month, West Lindsey District Council’s planning committee gave the green light for a new £6.3 million dry leisure centre to be built on land off Gainsborough Road, next to The Limes hotel.

And on Monday (February 18) council contractors began work to clear the site, ahead of the main building work which is due to start ‘in or around April’ according to WLDC.

Market Rasen’s Deputy Mayor Coun Steve Bunney was at the planning committee meeting in Guildhall, Gainsborough on February 6, when the application was approved.

An artists impression of the proposed leisure centre

Following the planning meeting, Coun Bunney rushed back to join Market Rasen Town Council’s monthly meeting where he told fellow councillors: “I’ve been at West Lindsey District Council planning committee.

“The plans for the leisure centre have just been approved.

“We need to be very clear, that site is large enough and will be bring to the town a new dry side sports centre with a municipal local authority-run weights studio, replacing the ones which are at De Aston School and no longer available, a full-scale hard surface outside for football and other things - something we haven’t got in the town at the moment.

“There’s plenty of room there for the swimming pool when it’s built.”

And Coun Bunney said the land ‘as you’re going along the road towards Middle Rasen’ would be ‘done up in a way to help traffic access the site’.

He added: “That’s all positive.”

The new leisure centre, set to be managed by Everyone Active, is part of a wider investment in leisure provision across the district.

WLDC prosperous communities committee chairman Coun Sheila Bibb said: “I am thrilled that the planning application has been approved.

“Health and wellbeing is a key priority for the council – especially when we discovered that 80 per cent of people in our district, do not currently have ready access to any leisure facilities – or currently do not attend them, which is why the council has pledged to invest in leisure  facilities.

“It now means we are able to offer more opportunities for all those who enjoy living in West Lindsey to improve and maintain a healthy lifestyle.”