CONTRACTORS are expected to begin work on the new £15m Down Leisure Centre in March after the project cleared a major hurdle.
Councillors in the new Newry, Mourne and Down super council have given their backing to the scheme which allows the tendering process for contractors to begin immediately.
The super council’s powerful Finance and Resources Committee formally approved the proposal on Tuesday night and although the decision has to be ratified by the main council, this is viewed as a formality.
The decision was one of three major decisions taken by the committee affecting projects in Down District.
• Plans for a new £4m community centre at the Belfast Road in Saintfield where also approved with a start date expected to be June next year.
• The committee also gave the go-ahead for the completion of an extension to the Market House in Ballynahinch which was partially constructed several years ago but never completed. That work will begin in the 2016/17 financial year.
Down and Newry and Mourne councils will go out of business on March 31 next year. In preparation for the hand over, the super council has taken control of major capital spending, meaning the two disappearing councils must get permission for schemes like the Down Leisure Centre.
Downpatrick councillor, Colin McGrath, has welcomed the decision which he said “means that there is no turning back for this project.”
Mr. McGrath, who was chairman of the Down Leisure Centre Project Board, said there is a need for a leisure centre in the heart of Downpatrick to provide recreational facilities for local people in the county town.
“There is no provision like it for 20 miles and I am pleased that this centre will become an iconic new build on the main street of the county town,” he said.
“There will be new and updated facilities and whilst the budget restricts what we can be deliver I feel that residents will be pleased, happy and become regular users of this new facility.
Once the tender stage has been progressed I am confident that the spade will dig into the ground in March of next year and the centre open to the public within two years.”
Down Council chairman, William Walker, who is also vice-chairman of the super council’s Finance and Resources Committee, was also delighted with the decision.
“It has taken a long time but at last we are in a position to look for contractors and progress this scheme as quickly as possible,” he said.
“I am also very pleased that Saintfield Community Centre has been given the go-ahead which should mean contractors are starting work as early as June next year,” he added.
Two other Finance and Resources Committee members, Terry Andrews and Patrick Clarke, who are also Down councillors, welcomed the decisions.
Councillor Andrews said the Down Leisure Centre project had been on a “bumpy road” but was delighted it was not to proceed. Mr. Clarke said it was fitting that a town of the stature of Downpatrick would have a major leisure facility.