More money to be spent on Staines leisure centre

The new, ‘state of the art’ Eclipse Leisure Centre in Staines debuted in October 2024, but it has not taken too long for people to flag issues with the centre.

Places Leisure, the operator, has raised concerns about six design issues, three of which were discussed at a Community Wellbeing and Housing meeting at Spelthorne Borough Council on January 7.

They flagged health and safety concerns over people climbing onto the pool rooflight, exposed coals in the sauna, and individuals cutting across the grass and making it “unsightly”.

“I find this all very disappointing given all the work that went into preparing [the centre],” said Cllr Maureen Attewell (Conservative/ Shepperton Town).

Plans to upgrade the leisure centre were first announced in 2018, with detailed proposals approved in 2021.

Cllr Attewell added: “The project team has a lot to answer for here… we shouldn’t be in this position at such a high cost.”

Around £43m has been spent on building the new leisure centre so far, with contractor Willmott Dixon handing over a “fully compliant building” in line with its brief. But now the council has to spend a further £313,000.

Part of the Eclipse centre’s designs features a rooflight over the swimming pool, sat in the middle of the two roof top pitches.

Although council officers noted the 1.2m tall roof light could certainly hold an individual’s weight without the risk of falling through, they raised concern that groups of people running and jumping on the light could be dangerous.

“Someone’s head should roll,” Cllr Lisa Brennan (Conservative/ Shepperton Town) said, calling the safety concerns over the rooflight a “massive oversight”.

A plastic wall is currently blocking access to the roof light as a temporary measure, costing a shocking £500 per week, totalling £5,500 at the end of December.

Officers said the council has now placed an order for a permanent barrier to be installed around the rooflight, at around £23,500, and work is to begin at the end of January.

The promised sauna area has been cordoned off after the leisure centre’s operator raised safety concerns about exposed coals to the general public.

Spelthorne council has now agreed to spend £3,000 on building a timber upstand around the coals.

Council officers said this issue “was not foreseen” as the exposed coals design is used across lots of public facilities across Europe.

However, according to the officer, Places Leisure felt the design was not appropriate in a publicly accessible centre where people may be unfamiliar with the exposed coals and perhaps abuse it or put something on the coals.

Other options looked at replacing the whole sauna, costing around £23k, or moving the coals to an ‘underseat’ design, costing £17k.

A maximum of £10k is being used to address people cutting across the newly-laid grass to gain quick access to the centre.

Grass outside the centre is becoming “worn and unsightly” and mud is being trampled into the leisure centre, according to council documents.

“It’s just the nature of humans to take the shortest path,” a council officer told the committee.

The council agreed to put in railings to protect the turfed area, at a budget of £10k, and also explore hedges as an alternative solution.

Cllr Brennan noted that in the scheme of things, an extra “£10k in a £42m budget is irrelevant. It just needs sorting”.

The officer said: “From the council’s perspective, we want to maintain the centre at a high standard for as long as possible so it makes sense to cordon the area off.”