Hackney Council announces multimillion-pound investment for beloved leisure centre in Lower Clapton
Hackney Council has announced that the popular Kings Hall Leisure Centre is to receive £5.75 million for repairs and future refurbishments.
The council-operated centre on Lower Clapton Road will get £3.1 million for structural fixes and a further £2.65 million to carry out surveys and develop longer-term plans.
The much-loved community establishment originally opened as Hackney Baths in 1897 and now offers a wide range of leisure facilities in addition to its swimming pools, including a gym and sports hall.
Town Hall health and leisure boss Cllr Chris Kennedy said: “Kings Hall is an important social and historic landmark for the borough and a crucial part of Hackney’s fantastic leisure provision.
“The council has long recognised the impact that sport and physical activity can have on residents’ wellbeing.
“We must ensure our leisure facilities continue to meet the demands and expectations of our community, especially with a growing population and reducing resources.”
The investment plans follow the reopening of the Britannia Leisure Centre in Shoreditch, which now features rooftop football pitches, a water flume and squash courts, among other state-of-the-art amenities.
Mayor of Hackney Philip Glanville said: “We have shown our ambition with the opening of the new Britannia this summer, but we must meet the needs of residents in the east of the borough – all part of a network of facilities across the borough that we want to make as inclusive as possible.
“It is vital that we invest in the long-term future of Kings Hall so that leisure centre users can enjoy modern facilities for years to come, something we have been working to achieve alongside local councillors.”
Will the Council publish by what criteria it will judge this investment a success?
Then in the future we will know whether, in the Council’s own terms, the project is a success or not.
A post project evaluation would be ideal. Will we get one? Of course not.
This is a long awaited and positive step. It’s a shame that Mayor Glanville and the Council continue to leave residents, at their hall-mark towers at Lincoln Court, with long-standing disrepair.
Imagine, you’ve spent decades asking nicely, asking again, reporting and complaining, taking legal action, protesting, etc to have landlord neglect reversed. Then, all of a sudden, the Council tell you they intend to build three or four new blocks among your prized open spaces.
So, having lived in a virtual building site for a few years while they replaced flammable cladding, that they shouldn’t have fitted anyway, they now invite us to enjoy another two or three years of construction site bliss to create new homes while continuing to ignore the serious repairs required for existing residents.