By Cllr Norman Jorgensen
As the Executive Member for Leisure responsible for initiating the Carnival Hub project five years ago, I was excited to be shown round the fabulous new facilities at Wokingham’s newly-opened leisure centre a couple of weeks ago.
The facility was planned and built under the previous Wokingham Borough Council Conservative administration.
The Hub contains a café, two swimming pools, one with a moveable floor, children’s splash area, sports hall, gym, studies, spa area and will house the library due to relocate there in September.
This promises to be a great addition to the council’s sport and leisure portfolio, with over 1,300 people already signed up to use it.
I was amused to see several Lb Dem councillors keen to be in the photos of the official opening.
This from the same Party that vociferously opposed the Wokingham Town Centre Redevelopment over many years. Remember the photos of Lib Dems with the Save Elms Field placards?
The strategy of the previous Conservative administration was to expand the range of sport and leisure opportunities within the Borough, providing options to residents.
Providing leisure centres that people use heavily ensures that they pay for themselves and also gives additional income to the Council, helping keep our Council Tax down.
The new Carnival Hub joins a long list of sport and leisure facility enhancements in the last few years. This includes:
- the recent works at Cantley Park
- new pavilion at Dinton Pastures
- the new leisure centre at Bulmershe
- new changing facilities at Ryeish Green
- the leisure centre at Arborfield
- and the enhancements at Loddon Valley Leisure Centre
Cllr Norman Jorgensen is the Shadow Executive Member for Environment & Leisure and Conservative borough councillor for Maiden Erlegh
