IN March the Bolton News asked my thoughts on the new proposed Horwich Leisure Centre. I said I generally welcomed investment into Horwich, provided the new centre is "at least as good as what the centre is now."

Unfortunately, despite recent concessions to the pool area, it is in my opinion clearly not "bigger and better" as promised, nor is it "negative" or "silly" to be opposed to these plans.

The entre was built by and paid for under the auspices of the former Horwich Urban District Council, when Horwich money was invested directly in Horwich. The current leisure centre is a fine legacy of that era and any replacement centre needs to offer equivalent, or better facilities. It is unacceptable for Bolton to oversee a downgrade of the facilities as the current plans do.

Whilst I welcome concessions to the pool deck to enable galas to potentially continue, there has been little meaningful consultation on these current plans, forcing Horwich First to call a public meeting where out of 170 people, not one resident (bar one Bolton Borough Councillor) raised their hands in support of the plans. When asked if they would rather do without a leisure centre in the short term, if it meant a better fit for purpose centre in the long term, enabling a relocation, refurbishment, or rebuild in situ, 70 per cent raised their hands.

I would hope Bolton planning committee listen to the people of Horwich and completely reject these plans outright, enabling alternative and better plans to be presented. It is incredulous to reduce squash courts to nil, badminton courts four, a sports hall approximately half the square footage of the current hall, when some groups want to hire the sports hall more than they currently do, but can't because there is no spare capacity.

There will be no cafe or climbing wall or indoor bowls at a time when extra 6,500 people are due to arrive in our town.

Notwithstanding the design is completely out of character with the area, or the failure to obtain any Sport England funding (leading to a bigger bill for local taxpayers) there is a real chance for Bolton to prove that Horwich might actually be an integral part of the borough...listen to the people!

Cllr Steven Chadwick (Independent)

Lever Park Ward

Horwich