After delay and debate end Knaresborough's gleaming new £17.5m leisure complex is ready to open next week

From next Monday, December 11, the new leisure complex in Knaresborough will deliver a state-of-the-art swimming and fitness provision with a six-lane 25-metre pool, a leisure pool with flume, a 60-station fitness suite, a studio for group fitness classes, a bespoke group cycling studio, sauna and steam rooms, a café and an outdoor children’s play area.

Managed by Brimhams Active, North Yorkshire Council’s health and wellbeing company, and delivered by Alliance Leisure, the council’s strategic development partner, the opening promises a new era for leisure.

The Mayor of Knaresborough Coun Hannah Gostlow said: “I am delighted to see the new centre ready for the public – it is a great asset for the community.”

But the completion of Knaresborough’s gleaming new £17.5 million facility has not been an easy process, despite North Yorkshire Council’s winning the go-ahead from local councillors.

The decision to demolish the existing swimming pool, which had been built in 1990, and replace it with a centre next to it on King James Road provoked anger from some residents and green campaigners for being, in their view, expensive, unnecessary and environmentally questionable.

Scheduled to open during the summer, technical complications and construction issues saw the launch date put back.

Having finally completed the job, North Yorkshire Council is confident the new multi-million pound leisure complex offers a sea change in health and fitness.

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for culture and leisure, Coun Simon Myers, said: “By moving the service offer from being a conventional swimming pool to a community health and wellbeing service we aim to help people move more, live well, feel great and reduce the proportion of the population that is physically inactive."

The council says the new building will be more efficient than the former one with a reduction of more than 60% in its the carbon output.

Environmental features include sustainably efficient air source heat pumps and solar panels installed to provide a source of renewable energy.

The director of Alliance Leisure, James Foley, said: “The UK’s stock of ageing and inefficient leisure facilities makes a significant contribution to carbon emissions, so it’s encouraging to be collaborating with ambitious local authorities like North Yorkshire Council to decarbonise important assets like Knaresborough.

“It will a create clean and energy efficient leisure centre to help meet the nation’s net zero targets and, in the long-term, will also result in considerable operational savings. "

The chief executive of North Yorkshire Sports, David Watson, whose charity promotes active lifestyles in the county, said: “I am delighted to see this fantastic new facility open in Knaresborough that will serve as a huge asset to the local community.

“Being active is an essential part of living a healthy life and having access to a range of opportunities, including facilities such as this, makes it easier for people to build physical activity into their daily lives.

“Thirty-three years after the first pool was built in the town, this new facility retains the spirit of the original, with a pool and flume, but also adds much needed activity space with the new studios and fitness suite."

For full information on the centre, visit: https://www.brimhamsactive.co.uk/