£300m Basingstoke leisure park regeneration deal collapses
Council ends development deal by mutual consent
NewRiver and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council have jointly agreed to end the development agreement to regenerate Basingstoke Leisure Park.
Signed in 2018, the agreement would have seen £300 million of private investment in the council-owned park to provide a new Aquadrome and new leisure facilities, alongside a designer outlet centre.
However, these proposals were significantly delayed by a legal challenge over procurement, successfully overcome in June 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted on the business climate in the UK, especially in the leisure and retail sectors, with a corresponding impact on property development within those sectors.
As things have changed so significantly since the proposals were first developed, the council and NewRiver have jointly reviewed the proposals and agreed that they are no longer viable or appropriate in the post-COVID world.
The borough council’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Major Projects Cllr John Izett said:
“Dissolving this partnership is very disappointing as the development agreement offered the borough and our residents the prospect of extensive private investment to comprehensively regenerate the leisure park, bringing the latest leisure attractions, a designer outlet centre and a new Aquadrome, with accompanying jobs.
“But we recognise that these plans have been disrupted by significant events, firstly the legal challenge over procurement, successfully overcome, and subsequently the profound impact of COVID-19 on the leisure and retail sectors.
“The joint decision to end the development agreement allows us to get on with the work needed to put together new plans for our leisure park that are suitable and deliverable in a post-COVID world. It will be important to consult with councillors, other stakeholders and our residents on the best way forward. Even in this changed environment, our leisure park offers huge potential that by working together can be realised in a new plan.”
What happens next?
The end of the development agreement allows the council to consider the most appropriate leisure offer for Basingstoke alongside the evolving town centre strategy and the local plan update. We are now exploring suitable options for a replacement of The Aquadrome, which is the council’s facility, and the redevelopment of the leisure park.
Proposals will be developed over the course of the next few months, consulting with councillors, existing leisure park operators, leisure park users, residents and specialists in the leisure industry.
We are looking at the best proposals for the future of the park and how to fund them without the £300 million private investment. It is not likely to be the large-scale redevelopment and regeneration previously planned but more organic and gradual.
Consultants are being appointed to develop business plans, master planning, highways and survey work, further specialist and expert work will be needed. This will take time but we are drawing up a programme timetable and will share this as soon as possible.
What will happen about the Aquadrome?
The Aquadrome is a council facility which is managed by Basingstoke and Deane Community Leisure Trust, and run by Serco, on behalf of the borough council. The council will now be able to control the delivery of a new or modernised Aquadrome and reconsider its options for the leisure park. We now need to look at how we will renew or replace this popular facility, and how we will fund that.
Owing to the delay in bringing forward the project and demand changes post-pandemic, the council is already investing in Basingstoke Aquadrome. We are carrying out maintenance work to ensure that it will continue to provide leisure facilities, while we take stock of future plans for the facility.
What will happen to other facilities at the park?
Although the land the leisure park is built on belongs to the borough council, most of the buildings there are not owned or operated by the council.
Most of the leisure facilities are owned on long leases by the operators or their landlords Therefore there is no automatic ability to redevelop on the council’s part. We will be working with all of the operators and leaseholders to encourage them to upgrade their facilities and what they offer to the borough for the future.
What will happen about the ice rink?
The ice rink is not a council facility. The current landlord Standard Securities and operator Planet Ice have leases on the building that require them to keep it in ‘good and substantial’ repair, otherwise the council can take legal action to enforce the obligations under the lease.
We are currently undertaking a survey to assess the condition of the ice rink and understand the full extent of the repair work needed before considering whether to take legal action.
We will be talking to Planet Ice and Standard Securities as we seek to secure the ice rink’s future, in the same way as we will be talking to all operators at the park.
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