The Brentwood Leisure Centre will open its doors on Saturday 5 December in line with the government’s Tier 2 regulations. The initial services available will be as follows:

• Swimming pool
• International sports hall comprising gym, badminton and aerobic classes
• 3G pitch

The building has also been identified as a preferred site for a mass vaccination centre so part of the International Hall will be used to facilitate this and will impact on the range of activities that will be available for the public to use at the Centre.

The reception area, pool, changing rooms and main hall have all been inspected and are now fit for purpose with the necessary Covid-19 requirements for social distancing in place. The Council are continuing to review health and safety works on the rest of the centre which will inform the timeline for the further opening of the rest of the building.

Brentwood Borough Council Leader, Cllr Chris Hossack said:

“This is great news for our residents who were inconvenienced by the sudden closure of the Brentwood Leisure Trust that had run the centre for many years. The Brentwood Leisure Trust going into insolvency came in the same week that a second national lockdown was put in place.

“While it was therefore not possible to open the centre during lockdown, it did mean that vital remedial and essential work could be undertaken and legal safety inspections made. This has allowed us to be in a position where we can safely partially reopen the centre on December 5 in line with governments Tier 2 regulations.

“We are in the process of recruiting staff and it is our hope that former Brentwood Leisure Trust staff will be able to take up some of those positions to bring their skills and experience back to the centre under the council’s management. Similarly some of the businesses and various groups that used the centre, and have had to move elsewhere, may now be able to return to continue their activities. There is still work to be done. I would like to thank all those involved for their patience while the council took on responsibility for the Brentwood Centre.

“We promised we would get the centre back into safe operation again as soon as possible after lockdown, and our staff have worked tirelessly to make this possible, for which they should be commended, given everything else that is happening at the moment. This has been a bumpy few weeks but I remain more optimistic than ever about the future of the Brentwood Centre.”

Further information can be found at www.brentwood.gov.uk/brentwood-centre