A new leisure centre complete with a pool and fitness centre could be on its way to west Norfolk as a council takes the first steps in replacing leisure facilities.
The Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk has begun discussing options to replace the ageing and increasingly costly St James Swimming Pool in Lynn and Oasis Leisure Centre in Hunstanton.
The current leisure facilities are estimated to cost the council £1.4m in subsidies to run each year due to high energy costs resulting from their inefficient decades-old design.
Due to their older nature, the council would need to invest more than £2m over the next few years for them simply to remain open.
On top of the high costs, the facilities' inefficiencies account for almost 40pc of the council's entire carbon emissions.
The fitness and wellbeing of the area have become a concern after recent data revealed the physical activity of the area was lower than the national average.
Two new proposals have been put forward for discussion including the building of a new modern swimming pool at Lynnsport or another town location and the building of a new modern Oasis leisure centre at or near the Hunstanton seafront.
Council deputy leader Simon Ring said: “We want to enable more residents to lead healthy, active lifestyles, to address health inequalities and tackle climate change.
"Like other councils in our area and across the country, I feel we need to invest to offer attractive, modern, sustainable health and fitness facilities that will significantly increase usage but will be considerably cheaper to run and maintain.
“St James’ and the Oasis have served our communities well for decades, but they’re ageing centres of their time, increasingly unable to meet modern user expectations or needs, and come at ever-rising costs, both financially and environmentally.
"To do nothing will simply result in centres closing when they become too costly to repair."
The plans will be discussed at a joint panel on December 3 before going to cabinet on December 10.
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