CONTRACTS have been signed for the redevelopment of Gillingham’s leisure centre.

District and community leaders have put pen to paper on a £6 million project to redevelop the dated Hardings Lane facility as a joint community and leisure facility.

Gillingham community group, The Three Rivers Partnership, will run the refurbished centre.

Chairman Mark Hebditch said the group had campaigned for six years for a new community facility.

“The signing of the contracts is a huge landmark. We have got to run the centre commercially and not under a permanent subsidy. None-the-less, we are not in the business of making a profit,” said Mr Hebditch.

Upgraded facilities will include an internet café, a brand new 25 metre swimming pool, an extended and refurbished sports hall, a modern fitness suite and community workspaces and meeting rooms.

North Dorset District Council has invested more than £3 million in the project, which will be delivered by Shaftesbury architects Philip Proctor Associates and Sturminster Newton builders A Hammond and Sons.

Phase one of the project is scheduled to finish next March with the reopening of the leisure centre, with fundraising for phase two – the community facility – continuing.

Community leaders in Blandford are watching the project with interest. The district council is due to withdraw its £250,000-a-year subsidy for the leisure centre on Milldown Road next March.

Steve Hitchings, the chairman of the Blandford Leisure Centre Action Group, said he was aware of the Gillingham management model and would consider parts relevant to Blandford.

A trust model would save the Blandford centre from a rates bill of more than £50,000-a-year, as well as exempting it from VAT liability, said Mr Hitchings.

Expert advice is being taken on the design of a business model that would allow ownership of the building and liability for its maintenance to remain with the district council, he added.