Council votes for £672k cash injection to keep tennis hub plans on track
The proposed community sports hub in Cromer. Image: NORTH NORFOLK DISTRICT COUNCIL - Credit: Archant
Plans for a new £3.3m sports hub with three indoor tennis courts in Cromer are back on track after councillors approved an extra £672,000 for the project.
The cash injection was needed because £500,000 the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) was expected to pour into the project fell through.
At a full meeting of North Norfolk District Council on Wednesday, councillors voted unanimously to approve the extra funds, and to review the business case for the hub to see that it would still give 'value for money'.
Councillor Hilary Cox, leisure portfolio holder, said the hub would include a dance studio and gym and would be a 'community sports facility for the whole district'.
She said: 'It brings together all the council's leisure offering at the academy.'
Mrs Cox said of the need for the extra funds: 'The LTA in January this year decided not to fund the almost half-a-million capital grant.'
She added this was not a failing of the project but: 'because the LTA decided to change its funding model'.
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The facility would be built on Cromer Academy land and available both for student use and for members of the public, with a public entrance via Cabbell Park, off Mill Road.
Conservative group leader John Lee said: 'I welcome the close working relationship we have with Cromer Academy and I'm excited by the opportunities this hub will open up for our young people across the district.'
The council has already spent about £259,000 on architecture, construction, planning, legal and consultancy costs on the project.
MORE: New £3.2m sports hub in Cromer given green light by district council
