Flagship leisure centre thrown into doubt amid new council’s funding questions
The future of Cranleigh Leisure Centre has been thrown into doubt after West Surrey’s executive failed to guarantee funding for its vital multimillion pound revamp.
In January this year, residents were told by the leader of Waverley Borough Council that the old rundown site had to be replaced with a state-of-the-art eco friendly building – or it would ‘inevitably close’.
Now, with the project set to be passed on to the new mega authority when councils across the county merge, the new leadership has rowed back on funding promises for the £36m project – leaving its future up in the air.
West Surrey is set to take over in April and faces huge debts inherited from its constituent councils. Residents have feared previously debt free areas would be pay the price for problems elsewhere.
Councillor Kevin Deanus (Conservative: Waverley Eastern Villages) asked the Wednesday, September 23, shadow council to confirm whether the new Cranleigh Leisure Centre would proceed as currently planned – and if West Surrey Council remained committed to delivering it once it took over on April 1, 2027.
He was told agreed projects, such as the new passivhaus leisure centre for Cranleigh, would continue up until Vesting Day, at which point a decision would be made.
Councillor Deanus then pressed the executive to commit to setting aside a clearly ringfenced budget for the project.
He said: “Will this scheme, and other schemes, be shown as a distinct line in the budget as I fear if its not it will be unachievable?
“More importantly if the scheme is not progressed will all the s105 allocations be returned to enable other infrastructure and facilities to be provided?
“Or would the 106 money be returned to developers?”
In response, Councillor Leslie Rice, portfolio holder for finance, said: “We’ve talked a lot about evolving situations.
“Everything will be evidenced based, we will have to see what the facts are as we prepare the budget.
“As John Maynard Keynes said ‘when the facts change, I change my mind.
“We will look at the circumstances in the best we can, for every single community in West Surrey.”
Councillor Jane Austin, group leader of the Conservative opposition group said: “This is a really important project for the Cranleigh area and I’m really concerned to hear the level of non-committal.
“Could we have a yes or no that the West Surrey executive is backing this project and that it will form part of their budget?”
Councillor Rice replied: “West Surrey executive will back every single important project at every single community.
“Many communities have many projects which are important, none are more important than others.
“We will look at all of them with respect to the financial resources available.”