By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
A “redundant” former pool closed by a council will be removed from a school site and replaced with a new dining hall.
Nottinghamshire County Council will remove the former pool, at Edgewood Primary School, in Hucknall, after Ashfield District Council agreed to close the site’s former leisure centre in 2020.
The Edgewood Leisure Centre closure, which officially came into effect in April 2021, came as the district council said it could no longer afford to support the leisure centre.
It withdrew its support, meaning the leisure centre did not have an operator from April 1, 2021, and the site was then handed back to the school’s landowner Nottinghamshire County Council.
It has remained mothballed and out of use ever since, with the Conservative-led county authority saying it is now a “blight”.
The Ashfield Independent-led district council said at the time it was “committed” to providing leisure facilities in Hucknall.
It has since completed work on the £5.5m new learner pool at Hucknall Leisure Centre, which opened at the end of June and is seen as a replacement for the closed facilities at Edgewood.
Now the Conservative-run county council has set out plans to remove the pool from the school and replace it with a dining area for pupils.
The council will invest £356,208 to remove the pool, which it describes in papers as “redundant”, and turn it into a dining area for school pupils.
A ‘breakout space’ would also be included in the plans alongside replacement cladding in the existing sports hall.
It’s part of a wider £9.2m spend by the authority on school improvements that will see 20 sites supported with vital repairs.
Speaking on the Edgewood works, Councillor Keith Girling (Con), cabinet member for economic development and asset management at the county council, said the changes are needed.
In a statement, he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “In 2021, Ashfield District Council … closed the leisure centre at Edgewood and returned the closed pool to the school and Nottinghamshire County Council.
“We have maintained the vacant property since and it has been a blight on the school.
“Therefore, we have progressed proposals for a project to bring it into use for the benefit of the school. The school has welcomed this.
“The works form part of a recently approved programme of capital works across the maintained school estate which will be undertaken on a prioritised basis over the next two years.”
Other improvements to schools near Hucknall include £80,000 to repair mobile classrooms at Leen Mills Primary.
Annesley Primary, in Annesley Woodhouse, will also get £517,980 for a new, wired fire alarm system, upgraded emergency lights and new energy-efficient lighting.
The works are expected to take place within the current financial year of 2023/24, the authority confirmed last week.
