Wellington Sports Centre to benefit from eco-friendly upgrades
Somerset West and Taunton Council secured £1.5m of grant funding in February
A popular Somerset sports centre will be upgraded in the coming months to make it greener to run.
The public sector decarbonisation scheme (PSDS), created by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), provides grants to local authorities with a view to reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75 per cent by 2037.
Somerset West and Taunton Council secured £1.5m of grant funding in February, which will be divided between Wellington Sports Centre on Corams Lane in Wellington and the Alcombe Children’s Centre on Stephenson Road in Minehead.
Somerset Council (which replaced the district council in April) has now submitted formal plans for the Wellington upgrade, which could get under way before the end of the year if approval is granted.
A spokesman said: “Wellington Sports Centre, which opened in 1973, requires much needed improvements to align with the decarbonisation of its use.
“To bring the building up to modern standards as well as future proofing, we have proposed additions such as air source heat pumps to replace gas boilers, heat recovery ventilation systems, solar panels and thermal upgrades to the roof and glazing.”
Under the proposals, numerous windows and doors will be replaced throughout the sports centre to allow the building to retain more heat and thereby cut its energy bills.
A new foyer will be provided along with electric vehicle charging points in the car park, ground-mounted air source heat pumps and acoustic fencing to reduce noise and improve security.
The council has not confirmed how much of the PSDS grant will be spent in Wellington compared to the Minehead project.
Diane Cornish, who regularly uses the sports hall within the complex, said that other long-demanded upgrades should be carried out at the same time to improve users’ experience of the facility.
Ms Cornish, who lives on Stoke Road in Taunton, said: “Visibility in the sports hall is not good when the sun is shining through the windows high above the entrance foyer.
“As these windows are now going to be replaced, is it possible to have some sort of reflective glass or shading from the sun, to enhance being able to play badminton, basketball and other sports that are affected? We have been asking for this for years.”
A decision on the plans is expected to be made before Christmas, with the council’s executive expected to shortly approve the official contract for the upgrade work.
A separate application to upgrade the Alcombe Children’s Centre in Minehead is expected to come forward later in the year.
The land to the west of the sports centre was purchased by the district council in June 2022 to provide a protected green lung between the town from the village of Rockwell Green.
Under the council’s vision document for this project, part of this land could be used to provide new sports pitches near the sports centre in the years to come – though not formal plans for this have yet been submitted.