Important centre will continue role

I RECENTLY met with a group of young people in Brinnington who are involved with the Reclaim project in the area, and Life Leisure, who will be running the new sports centre on Brinnington Park.

The young people are passionate advocates for the area. The project encourages them to be confident in expressing their views. They are also very determined to get actions from people who are in a position to make decisions.

I wanted to make sure that the young people had their say about the activities they would like in the new centre. They came up with some great ideas.

I was delighted that, after our meeting, Life Leisure immediately took up their suggestion of a free girls-only fitness session at the Lapwing centre, which will start on November 2.

The new sports centre is part of a major regeneration plan in Brinnington which will see 281 new houses built in the area. The site of the existing sports facilities at the Lapwing Centre will be built on as part of the new development.

Local people need to feel confident that they are going to benefit from the new sports centre.

At the moment lots of groups meet regularly at the Lapwing Centre for basketball, football, karate, gymnastics, trampolining, boxing, a samba band, the Sparklers cheerleaders – and more!

That space is much valued by the local community so it’s really important that the council and Life Leisure are able to reassure all these groups that they will have the same facilities at the new sports centre.

It is hoped it will be completed by the end of 2017.