Swimming pool at Uckfield Leisure Centre could be lost and replaced with tennis courts

Speaking at a meeting of Wealden District Council’s Overview and Scrutiny committee on Monday, cabinet member Philip Lunn updated councillors on ongoing discussions about the leisure centre’s future.

While currently operated by WDC (through its contracted provider Freedom Leisure), the centre itself is owned by East Sussex County Council, as it forms part of the wider Uckfield College site.

In 2020, WDC announced plans to let the lease expire and hand the site back to the county council, although the lease has temporarily been extended to July 2023.

A similar arrangement had also been in place at Heathfield Leisure Centre, which has now closed to the public after being handed back to the county council in October.

While a similar fate could await Uckfield Leisure Centre, Cllr Lunn said speculative discussions were ongoing on alternative options.

He said: “Even though the situation is that this is a county-owned asset and we are managers there has been talk that one direction we could go in is scrapping the wet site, because that is the most costly part of that leisure centre for obvious reasons.

He added: “As people from Uckfield may know, the college has big ambitions to create almost a national standard tennis facility there with numerous indoor tennis courts.

“It has been mooted that it wouldn’t be impossible to take the pool out of the leisure centre and replace it with a spectator tennis court, an indoor tennis court, in place of the pool.

“It is purely speculative at the minute, but it gives the flavour that — even though county owns the asset — we have given the message that we’ve got open ears and are available at all times for discussion with county officers.

“If the decision was made that in some way, shape or form, Uckfield Leisure Centre continued to be an entity and a commercial entity we would be around the table.”

Cllr Lunn went on to say that discussions had also covered plans to create an alternative pool facility within Uckfield. He said further details of this potential project could come forward sometime next year.