Consultation outcomes on The Louisa Centre facilities

Background

See our Leisure transformation consultation page for information about the leisure transformation project.

Our transformation proposals are part of our plans for Stanley and support levelling up plans for the area. This phase of leisure conversation will allow you to have your say on the indoor leisure transformation work.

What we proposed

Proposals at a glance

The table below shows the planned changes at a glance:

Proposals in more detail

Sports hall

We proposed to keep half the existing sports hall space and use the other half to make space for a clip and climb activity.  We will work with any clubs and groups who are affected by this change to support access to other activities and/or other facilities elsewhere.

Soft play

We proposed to introduce a new and expanded soft play space to help young people to be more active. The range of play equipment will also be designed to help develop physical literacy, confidence, and social skills. One of the five big issues identified by Sport England's Sport England: Uniting the Movement Strategy is the provision of positive experiences for children and young people and embedding physical activity through fun from an early age.

Clip and climb

We proposed to use some of the existing sports hall area for this.

Clip and climb is a series of climbing-based activities to provide healthy, challenging fun for all the family, and can be used be anyone regardless of their previous climbing experience.

TAG active

We proposed to use some of the existing sports hall area for this.

TAG active is an arena-based game designed to test strategy, speed, agility, awareness, and bravery. It promotes fitness, fun and competition. The arena itself contains a complicated structure of inter-connected activity areas. Each area contains challenges that require a mixture of physical and mental agility. 

Wellbeing, group exercise and toning

We proposed to refurbish the top floor of the building to provide a dedicated space for all our group and individual exercise activities.

This would include a wellbeing suite offering a range of specialist equipment aimed at getting people back into exercise. This will be of particular benefit for those wishing to re-establish a fitness habit, and for those who have ill health or are living with a long-term health condition. This space would be in addition to the gym and will be a space for people to improve their health - physically, mentally, and socially - and to gain confidence before starting to use the wider leisure facilities on offer.

Food and drink

We proposed to add healthy food and drinks to our new play and activity spaces. This will help to support and maintain the sustainability of the centre, but it will also add to the overall experience and provide a much needed opportunity to create social spaces. These will be key for the community in recovering from the pandemic, and will help support our ongoing work to improve wellbeing through social interactions.

Floor plans

See the proposed floor plans for where this work will happen.

• Louisa Centre proposed floor plan - ground floor (PDF, 700.6kb)
• Louisa Centre proposed floor plan - top floor (PDF, 739.6kb)

Have your say

Consultation outcomes

The proposals were very well supported and generally positive throughout, with more than 82% seeing them as a positive change to the facilities and services at the centre.

There was concern around the potential impact of the proposed sports hall re-configuration, particularly on the clubs who use the space, and this has been managed as much as possible to reduce the impact during the work.

Cost was also a concern; ensuring that the new facilities and activities remain affordable for people in the local area was an important point in the feedback.