Call for Oasis refurbishment price tag disclosure

By Barrie Hudson - 24 June 2022

Community
  • A picture of the pool at the leisure centre, taken last year

    A picture of the pool at the leisure centre, taken last year

A campaign group is calling for the likely full cost of reopening Swindon's Oasis Leisure to be revealed.

Save Oasis Swindon spoke out in the wake of the announcement earlier this week that Swindon Borough Council is to submit an £8m bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund to help bring forward plans to reopen the iconic venue.

The recently-Listed Oasis has been closed since late 2020. Plans to build a new leisure facility on the site were submitted by landlords SevenCapital last year.
However, these were shelved when the dome and swimming pool were given Grade II listed status by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of Historic England.
Save Oasis Swindon founder Neil Robinson said: "It's good news that the council are seeking funding for the Oasis, but the big problem here is that as a campaign we still do not know the true cost of reopening the Oasis.
"They have applied for £8m, but we have not been told the final figure of how much it's going to cost to refurbish and reopen the Oasis."
Mr Robinson said his organisation wondered whether the final cost might be double the sum applied for or more, perhaps SevenCapital perhaps making a contribution.
He added: "It's a positive step but we need a full break down. We need the council to engage more with the campaign. We need direct answers from the council. We need to know the total cost and we need to know what the council is doing about maintenance."

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