Norwich Evening News. 11 August 2005

Plans for £10m gym scrapped

LEWIS HANNAM
11 August 2005 12:26

Controversial plans to build a £10 million private gym on a school playing field have been scrapped.

Developer David Lloyd Leisure has withdrawn proposals to build a sports and fitness centre on land at the Hewett School, Norwich.

The decision leaves a question mark over the school's plans to use the money from the sale of the land to pay for a new £2 million sports hall.

The proposals — which also included provision for nursery and nursing home — had been due to go to public inquiry in October after the application was called in by the Secretary of State last year. Mark Webb, a spokesman for David Lloyd Leisure, said: "At the present time we understand that an occupier for the proposed nursery has not been found.

"The scheme was from the outset intended to be entirely self-financing and this leaves the prospects of success at the public inquiry insufficiently strong to proceed. In making our final decision, we concluded that to continue would require more unreasonable costs and effort, with no certainty of a positive outcome."

He said the development would have created more than 100 jobs, and had the backing of both Norfolk County Council and Norwich City Council, as well as Norwich South MP Charles Clarke.

Peter Weavers, asset management director of NPS Property Consultants Ltd, the county council's property consultants, said: "We are disappointed the extra costs incurred as a result of the application being called in by the Secretary of State have made the current scheme unviable for David Lloyd Leisure.

"However, we hope to continue working with David Lloyd Leisure and the governing body of Hewett School to explore other options."

He said the council was still committed to a new sports hall for the school with funding provided by the sale of land.

But campaigners who fought against the development, on the grounds of its impact on traffic and the loss of green space, spoke of their delight. Keith Farwell, 40, of Cecil Road, of campaign group Residents Against Inappropriate Development (RAID), said: are absolutely delighted. It has been a really serious team effort. It will mean we have the continuing benefits of a large area of green space which would have been lost forever to private development. It is a victory for local people standing up for themselves."

Adrian Ramsay, Green party leader on the city council, said: "This is a crucial decision for this part of the city. It means that a green space has been protected from development and that the whole of the school playing fields will remain available for school sport, and hopefully for the community at large.

"It also means that local residents will not have to suffer from the increased traffic levels a new development with 250 car parking spaces would have brought, and that local roads will not be made more dangerous for Hewett pupils."

He said the sale would have set a precedent for the sale of playing fields being used to fund school improvements.