Plans Move Forward For New Leisure Centre In Brighton & Hove

Plans to build a new flagship leisure centre in the west of the city to replace the ageing King Alfred are moving forward, as the final site options have been revealed.

Since autumn 2022, council officers have been working to identify and assess suitable sites for the new facility and have engaged with hundreds of residents, centre users and sports club members.

Following a detailed analysis of over 20 privately and publicly owned sites, two have now been identified as possible locations for a new leisure centre. They are:

• the current King Alfred Leisure Centre site
• land to the south of Sainsbury’s car park at the junction of Old Shoreham Road and the A293

The sites have been chosen for their location, size, accessibility and potential to deliver first-class facilities. 

Each of the sites offers potential for a ‘state of the art’ leisure centre, complete with 25 metre competition swimming pool, separate learner pool and splash pad, sports hall, health and fitness facilities, including gym and cycling studio, group exercise space and café.

However, due to differences in location and size, there are separate proposals for each site. More information can be found on the King Alfred pages of the council’s website.

Over the next few weeks, residents from across the city are being invited to complete an online questionnaire and share their views on the site options and proposals.

They can also pick up copies of the questionnaire, view the proposals and meet with council officers at special ‘drop in’ events on:

• Tuesday 16 January, King Alfred Leisure Centre, 9am to 6pm
• Wednesday 17 January, St Richard’s Community Centre, 9.30am to 12noon
• Wednesday 17 January, Portslade Library, 10am to 5pm
• Wednesday 24 January, Hove Library, 10am to 6pm

Council leader Bella Sankey said:

“We are delighted that, with support from residents, sports club members, centre users and community groups, we can now share our final site options for a new leisure centre in the west of the city.

“The next steps are really important ones. We want as many people as possible to engage with this process and to give their views, thoughts, and reflections on the proposed sites so that we can take this into account when making the final decision on the location of our new leisure centre.

“This is an exciting new chapter for the city and we are all looking forward to seeing the new leisure centre come to fruition.”

Councillor Alan Robins, chair of the Culture, Heritage, Sports, Tourism and Economic Development added:

“I’m delighted that we’re moving forward with this long-awaited project and will finally be building a modern and energy efficient new sporting facility.

“We will continue to work with independent experts to review the delivery options and determine which best balances value for money with what we know residents want. 

“That work, together with the outcomes of the engagement, will both be taken into account when taking a final decision at our committee meeting in March. 

“On site work is expected to begin in 2025.”

The council says the current King Alfred is well used, with strong demand for both pools, but parts of the building date from the 1930s and it does not meet modern standards. 

Refurbishing the King Alfred would be extremely costly, and it would never be possible to match the energy efficiency or space efficiency standards of a new building. The current building does not represent value for money, whereas a new centre will be affordable to operate over the lifetime of the building, which is estimated at 30-40 years. 

The decision to build a new facility for the city forms part of Brighton & Hove’s Sports Facilities Investment Plan. The plan was drawn up following an extensive online public consultation exercise 'Your Sport, Your Vision, Your City', in 2020.  83% of respondents stated they wanted the council’s older sports centres to be replaced with modern, energy efficient facilities.