Approval sought for community hub capital investment and contractor

Warrington’s cabinet will be asked to approve capital investment and the appointment of a contractor to develop a community hub in the town.A report for Warrington Borough Council’s cabinet is seeking approval to invest £1.53m from the authority’s capital programme for the refurbishment of Birchwood Leisure and Tennis Centre to create the venue.It is also looking to secure backing to relocate Birchwood Library from its current location, premises connected to Birchwood High School, into an underutilised area within the leisure and tennis centre.The report is seeking the green light from members to appoint a contractor to undertake main building works.The hub will provide additional leisure provision in the form of an extra studio, an expansion to the current studio, changing provision including group change, accessible change and toilet facilities, and overall improvements to the external façade and internal décor.In addition, it is proposed to invest in a re-covering of the indoor tennis hall floor, and replacement of the curtains and netting.The report said the development of a new Birchwood Community Hub aims to improve leisure and library facilities within Birchwood, including accessibility stands. It also aims to improve outputs across library and leisure services, including attendance numbers and outcome improvements across health, wellbeing and learning.Warrington’s cabinet will discuss the plans at a meeting on Monday (13 February).