Ealing Council are set to consider new plans to replace Gurnell Leisure Centre after listening to public feedback. 

The new plans include creating a modern facility which include an Olympic-sized 50-metre swimming pool, fitness studio, as well as involving a residential development to reduce the impact on the council's budget. 

Following a feasibility study, Ealing Council concluded that an entirely new building would have less of an environmental impact than attempting to refurbish the existing centre which was built in the 1970s and has been closed since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic as it is structurally unsafe. 

Ealing Council leader Peter Mason said: "Ealing's young people, families and future athletes deserve a world-class modern swimming and leisure centre, and we remain committed to delivering a new Gurnell where residents can stay fit and healthy, both mentally and physically. 

"The previous proposals for Gurnell simply did not work, and were not good enough for Ealing. Since we took the decision to start from scratch, we've heard a broad range of opinions on Gurnell, both from last year's big public engagement and from establishing the Gurnell Community Sounding Board.  

"We are clear that there is a growing consensus that the future of the site has to include a brand new, state-of-the-art leisure facility with a 50m swimming pool, but without an extra rise in council tax to pay off the debt and high interest rates of unnecessary borrowing. 

"So, we're doing exactly what most residents who expressed their view suggested – we are proposing a mixed model where some of the cost of building a new centre is funded by also building new homes to either rent or sell at the site.  

"We know that not everyone is going to agree. But we also know that we are all going to need to make some compromises if we are going to get the doors of a new Gurnell open soon.  

"We are at a very early stage and no final decisions have been made about the design of the scheme, and as an open, inclusive and transparent council, we will continue to work with local residents and the Community Sounding Board on the detail of the proposals." 

The previous proposal for Gurnell Leisure Centre was rejected by Ealing Council's planning committee in April 2021 as the residential towers were too high, the new plan has a maximum height of ten storeys 

The housing that will be built at the site will include a minimum of 35% affordable housing out of the total of between 200 and 300 new houses to help offset the estimated cost of £45 million for this development.