New Spiceball is ready (From Banbury Cake)

New Spiceball is ready

3:19pm Tuesday 8th December 2009

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BANBURY residents will be getting an early Christmas present when the town’s new £17m sports centre opens its doors.

The Banbury Cake has been given a sneak preview of the new facilities at Spiceball Leisure Centre ahead of it opening to the public on Tuesday, from 6.15am.

Spiceball’s three-storey, 6,000 sq ft building in Spiceball Park Road, has opened about a month ahead of schedule. Its completion marks the final part of a £25m Cherwell District Council initiative to modernise sports centres across the district.

Both Bicester and Kidlington centres were given a revamp and opened earlier this year.

George Reynolds, Cherwell’s officer for environment, recreation and health, thinks the new centre is outstanding.

He said: “Banbury now has one of the most up-to-date leisure centres in the country. The new pedestrian bridge sets the scene for what is a jewel in the crown for Cherwell. We’ve invested heavily in sports and leisure facilities and Spiceball marks the culmination of this investment. This has been a massive project for the council and our gratitude should go to all those involved in its completion on time and within the agreed budget.”

Facilities include a state-of-the-art training pool which has a movable floor to change its depth, 25-metre swimming pool and a toddler play water area.

Residents will have a host of fitness choices to keep fit including exercise room, a 150-station fitness room, an eight-court sports hall, two squash courts and two multi-purpose studios. It will also have a health suite, including sauna, steam, spa and beauty rooms, crèche, soft play zone, viewing areas and cafe.

The new centre is a third bigger than the current centre, next door, and has been built on stilts to make it flood proof.

This follows floods in July 2007, when the sports centre was under six feet of water after a day of torrential rain.

It was closed for seven weeks for repairs and the district council had to foot the bill, which reached almost £560,000 because the centre was uninsured. Last year the centre was just inches away from being flooded again.

Once the new Spiceball is up and running the old sports centre will be demolished and is likely to be a car park until proposals to create a cultural quarter are finalised.

Work to build a £13m man-made bund on land between the M40 motorway and Daventry Road to prevent future flooding in the area could start next year.

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