Replacement or refurbishment of the Angel Centre in Tonbridge will be discussed next week.
An aging leisure centre will need to undergo a major refurbishment or be replaced with a new facility, according to a report to be discussed by councillors next week.
The Angel Centre in Tonbridge, which was built in 1981, provides a range of sport, health and community facilities but is now in need of major investment to ensure it is ‘fit for purpose’, members of Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council’s finance, regeneration and property committee will be told. An alternative option of replacing the centre with new facilities is also put forward for consideration at the meeting due to take place on Tuesday 14 November.
The committee report says that deciding on the future of the Angel Centre is an important step in a wider review of council-owned assets, including a number of car parks, on neighbouring land east of Tonbridge High Street.*
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council owns the building which is leased to and operated by its leisure trust partner, tmactive. The centre currently houses a gym, sports hall, dance studio and a pre-school nursery plus meeting rooms and The Medway Hall events space.
The building is said to need complete refurbishment to bring it up to modern standards, including future government targets for carbon emissions and the council’s net zero ambitions. The committee report states: ‘Due to its age and the changing nature of leisure provision, the Angel Centre has reached the point of requiring substantial investment in both plant and equipment and building fabric in order to remain fit for purpose in the long term.’
Unlike other centres operated by the leisure trust, the Angel Centre operates at a loss, forecast to be £265,000 for the current financial year. Councillors will also be told that while gym membership is up on pre-pandemic levels, bookings for the Medway Hall in particular have declined since the Covid-19 pandemic, there are inadequate dance studios to meet demand and a lack of any catering facilities.
Improvements would include re-configuring the internal layout, replacing heating systems, increasing energy efficiency and replacing the sports hall floor. The estimated bill for these and other works ranges from £8.6m to £14.6m.
The report includes an assessment from the Tonbridge and Malling Leisure Trust as operators of the Angel Centre. In its submission, the trust says: ‘The customer journey at the Angel Centre militates against easy access and lack of dedicated changing spaces also deters customers from use of the gym in particular. The need to programme activities into areas not designed for purpose results in lower customer satisfaction and the continual need to move equipment around the site. This impacts on the ability of the trust to provide services seen as competitive in the local market.’
At this stage no proposals are being put forward as potential sites for a new building, which it is estimated could cost between £16.5m and £19.8m. This work will form the next stage of the process if councillors vote to pursue this option over refurbishment. The report states that the Angel centre would remain operational during construction of any new building to ensure continuity of service for users.
The decision of committee will direct further work by council officers to explore either refurbishment or replacement in more detail. A report setting out proposals will be brought to a future meeting.
Agenda and report to the Finance, Regeneration and Property Scrutiny Select Committee.