New closure order for Oasis Leisure Centre site after spate of trespassers

By Jamie Hill - 2 July 2021

Crime

Following a substantial number of incidents of trespass at the Oasis in Swindon, a three month closure order of the site was granted earlier this week.

Wiltshire Police has been called out on many occasions to reports of people accessing the leisure centre since it closed last year and up until this week, this was regarded as a civil offence where the only course of action was to speak to anyone trespassing and move them on.

After discussions with Swindon Borough Council and leaseholders Seven Capital, PC Sarah Cooper made the application for the order which means that if people are found on the site without permission, this will now be treated as a criminal offence.

PC Cooper said: “Dealing with trepassers at the Oasis takes a lot of time and resources when we could be focussing on other crimes in the area.

"The site is dangerous and the last thing we’d want is for someone to injure themselves after breaking in.

"Seven Capital have made the building more secure with the addition of metal shutters and with this order in place, we’ll take the strongest possible action if we find anyone entering illegally.”

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