There is a £28.38 million budget for the project.

The Council has been successful in securing £20million of government funding from central government and hopes to secure £750,000 from the Football Foundation towards the 3G pitch. The balance is being met from the Council’s own capital funds.

It’s not the same funding no. This government funding is specifically awarded to enable the Health & Wellbeing Hub to be developed. The Plan for Neighborhood funding is additional and will enable other important town development projects to be completed.

The Council’s current contract partnership with Parkwood/Lex Leisure for the operation of the Castle Sports Centre and Pools Complex has recently been extended to the end of March 2026, to cover the period of the investment works when much of the sports centre will be unavailable.

A tender process is now being undertaken to determine the operator partnership arrangements from April 2026.

Delivery of the Extra Care Housing itself does not form part of the £26M Health and Wellbeing project.  The vision and concept for the overall Castle Fields site was a key driver behind the government bid’s success. There is an identified need for an Extra Care Housing facility in this locality. It’s inclusion as part of this site development naturally links and fits well with the new park area and proximity to the health and wellbeing hub and new external community facilities.

Extra Care housing is used to describe developments that comprise self-contained homes designed to enable self-care and independent living through the use of design features and support services.

As part of the leisure operator contract tender, we will require the operator to engage and work with a variety of community wellbeing and support organisations. The precise details of the partner organisations that will provide community health and wellbeing support are therefore yet to be determined. Engagement and project development discussions to date have involved organisations such as Tonic Health, Primary Care Network at Beechfield and Munro Medical Centres, and One You Lincolnshire.

The existing pools facility will be closed and demolished when the new facility is opened. The pools are planned to remain open as normal during the works. There may be some disruption to car parking arrangements during the works due to access to the construction site, but this will be planned to minimise any inconvenience.

The decision was taken to remove the BMX track early by way of remediating potential public safety concerns and reports of public nuisance.

The disused 400m cinder track will be removed to be replaced with an informal route around the park that is suitable for running, jogging and for use as a Park Run circuit. The circuit will also be suitable for informal cycling. There will also be specialist BMX areas for people to enjoy.

Additionally, there are no plans to include a sauna facility within the new facility. Building regulations and fire protection requirements make it challenging to include a sauna within the new building cost envelope.

The project working title is the South Holland Health & Wellbeing Hub. The centre name will be determined in due course, but it may well remain as the Castle…Centre.

The swimming pools will remain open during the works.

The dry side will close on September 9^th with temporary fitness suite and group exercise facilities will be available from September 13^th at the Spalding Campus of Boston College on Red Lion Street, along with the council arranging temporary facilities for indoor bowls activity to continue in Long Sutton.

You can find out more about the change of facilities here – https://www.leisurecentre.com/castle-sports-centre-and-swimming-pool/refurbishment-faq

Yes. Regular bookings will be protected so that, where required, the same day and time will be secured and available once the new facility opens.

Work is currently programmed to start in spring 2025 with practical completion scheduled for late 2026. Centre opening will be opening to the public in January 2027.

The opening hours will, as a minimum, mirror the existing combined opening hours of the sports centre and swimming pool facilities.

Our tender specification will require the operator to offer a balanced and affordable suite of activity prices and packages based on the current activity prices, prevailing market conditions and need to ensure access for all.

There will inevitably be some disruption and impact during construction. Works to the car park and the highway have the potential to create most impact, we will liaise closely with other organisations using the site and the immediate neighbours to minimise the disruption.

It will be necessary for the operator to provide a balanced and accessible programme whilst also ensuring that the needs of all user group and sections of the community can be met. Programmes are expected to be flexible to meet changing demand and trends.

We recognise that the provision of new and increased facilities on the site will create an increased need and demand for parking. Additionally, the site has limited scope for new additional parking. The parking solutions will therefore take in to account the wider nearby car parks that are available.

There will be 176 onsite parking spaces for the Leisure hub, including 6-8 EV parking spaces. There are currently 156 parking spaces across the wet and dry side facilities.

Yes, there will still be Passenger Carrying Vehicles accessing the facility for drop off and pick up such as e.g., school swimming and events. Facility will be made for suitable turning and drop off arrangements.

Yes, CCTV will be installed internally and externally and will be the responsibility of the operator as part of their safeguarding and site security responsibilities.

Predominantly yes but there will be a mix of retained facilities, such as the bowls hall area, and new such as the new pool extension. The existing sports hall and changing facilities will be retained but will be fully reconfigured and refurbished. Remedial works and redecorations will be undertaken where needed, throughout.

The development includes two pools – a main 25m, 6 lane pool and a 20m x 12.5m teaching pool, providing an increase in water space compared to the existing facility. The teaching pool will have a fixed profile floor with depth ranging from 0.9 to 1.2m, having the flexibility to be used for warm up / swim down during competition events. The main pool will have a 1.2m shallow end with 1.8m deep end, including a ‘raised end’ to facilitate swim training and local/sub-regional competitions.

The teaching pool will have a fixed profile floor with depth ranging from 0.9 to 1.2m, having the flexibility to be used for warm up / swim down during competition events.

There will be a mix of permanent and temporary seating capacity on poolside. Permanent seating will provide for approximately 130 spectators. Poolside space will allow for approximately 120 additional temporary seating to be accommodated, giving a total maximum seated capacity of approximately 250.

Use of the poolside around the large teaching pool will enable this capacity to be increased, if necessary, during swimming events.

Communal changing villages are a modern, inclusive means of meeting the visit experience needs of the full range of centre users. Privacy and safeguarding are the important critical features of village changing. Everyone uses the same overall large changing room space which includes all cubicle changing and showering. There is no ‘open’ changing and showering, other than pre and post swim rinse showers.

Various changing cubicles are provided from single, double and family size to enable the individual or swimming group to attend and change together as they wish. Privacy features and doors locks are provided to all cubicles.

Clothes storage will be available in various size lockers.

A splashpad is an outdoor water activity playzone with water fountains, jets and fun water play features. It is zero water depth and therefore perfectly safe for all children and big kids from ages 2 to 92. Predominantly a warm weather activity the area can also be used as a ‘wellies and waterproofs on’ activity area in the cooler months.

The current sports hall is a large single space with dividing curtain that is used for multiple activities including fitness and group exercise classes. As such it doesn’t provide the ambience of dedicated and purpose-built activity space and only half of the sports hall is used for true sports hall activities. The intention therefore is to retain just over half of the hall as a traditional sports hall with the remainder being redeveloped to provide various different spaces for specific activities, including a much larger fitness suite and more dedicated studio spaces.

The reconfigured space will still provide sufficient space for 4 badminton courts and for volleyball, netball and basketball etc to meet current and future activity needs.

Yes. The application to the Football Foundation for funding to provide this facility will require partner club(s) to be identified, but programming and booking arrangements for the facility will ensure that it can be accessed by the community.

Sport England’s Facilities Planning Model advocates that residents should ideally have access to a public swimming pool within a 20-minute drive time. The location of the project at the Castle Sports complex in Spalding therefore provides the recommended facilities for much of the South Holland district. The Council would ideally want to be able to provide leisure facilities in each conurbation in the district but unfortunately the cost of doing so is so prohibitive that a strategic approach is necessary. The new facilities are very much being provided for everyone living in South Holland.

The current proposals allow for the site to be secured behind the 3G pitch, thereby maintaining access to the local footpaths and cycle routes that flow through the site.

Yes. The plans include arrangements for viewing the teaching pool and the children’s activity zone from the café seating/circulation area, and facility for spectating the main pool and sports hall depending on the activity taking place.