Extension of Hucknall Leisure Centre car park and new parking measures approved

The car park, at the Linby Road leisure hub, needs extra spaces after customer numbers rose due to the completion of the site’s new learner swimming pool.

Ashfield Council officially opened the pool during a party on July 15 following several months of construction works.

The learner pool, which cost about £5 million, is specifically aimed at swimming lessons and the authority says it has already proved a success with customers.

It is part of a £22.5m investment into leisure facilities across the district, which also led to the new £15.5m leisure centre in Kirkby.

But now the council has approved plans to extend the centre’s car park to accommodate rising customer numbers.

This is despite initial assessments for the pool project suggesting there was no need for extra car parking spaces.

The authority says attendances have “risen significantly” and are now 20 per cent above previous numbers.

This will be managed by extra car parking spaces to the side of the centre, on land owned by the council directly next to the new pool.

At the latest full council meeting, where the extension was approved, Coun Chris Huskinson, cabinet member for leisure, said it follows complaints from neighbours.

He said issues about inconsiderate parking were raised last winter, with cars “blocking the footpath, forcing pedestrians to walk through the car park”.

He said: “There were also issues with centre-users parking on adjacent residential streets.”

Parking restrictions will be brought in at the site to address some problems, as well as bollards to stop inconsiderate parking.

The authority expects the work to cost between £600,000 and £750,000 and hopes to deliver it before the new year, when membership numbers rise.

However, planning permission will be required, with a public consultation expected later this year.

Coun Phil Rostance, member for Hucknall West, praised the scheme, saying: “I’m always in support of improvements and investments to Hucknall.”

Coun Rachel Madden said: “Investing in this car park extension makes perfect sense. It will provide additional car park capacity, eliminate careless and dangerous parking and be fairer to local residents by eliminating nuisance.”