Residents across the Caerphilly county borough will benefit from a new, state of the art wellbeing centre thanks to a £20m cash boost from the government’s Levelling Up Fund announced on Thursday.
The new facility, which will be constructed close to key public transport facilities in the heart of Caerphilly, will become the flagship leisure and wellbeing hub for the whole county borough.
Caerphilly council will contribute more than £13million from its own reserves towards the exciting new facility, which will be developed on land adjacent to Caerphilly Business Park.
Leader of Council, Cllr Sean Morgan welcomed the announcement, “This is fantastic news and demonstrates our vision and ambition to deliver major projects that will regenerate our communities and result in positive change for local residents.”
“The £13million contribution from our cash reserves will make this project a reality and I hope those who continuously criticise us for having healthy reserves can now see the benefits that can be delivered thanks to our effective financial management,” he added.
The new centre will boast a new swimming pool, as well as a wide range of fitness and wellbeing facilities for use by the whole community including:
- State of the art fitness suite
- Active Play Centre for young children and teenagers
- Contemporary, family centred swimming provision
- Spa and wellbeing facilities
- Community Rooms to support health, wellbeing and community cohesion
- Multi – Purpose Sports Hall catering for a broad range of activities and events
- Catering facility to support employment and inclusion.
The development is a key part of the council’s ambitious Sport and Active Recreation Strategy which aims to get more people, more active, more often. It also forms part of a major regeneration blueprint for Caerphilly town centre called the Caerphilly 2035 Place Making Plan – as well as the wider £500+ million place shaping programme for the wider county borough.
Cllr Jamie Pritchard, Deputy Leader of Council said, “In total, £36million Levelling Up Funding was allocated for Gwent projects and the majority of the funding (£20m) has been secured here in Caerphilly, which is a hugely positive reflection on the quality of our bid. We will now move as quickly as we can to drive this project forward and deliver major benefits for the community.
Two additional bids that were submitted by the council (Caerphilly transport interchange hub and a leisure development in Cwmcarn Forest) will be considered in future bidding rounds.
