Forum Topic

Why not just be honest and say the Fountains Centre is closing?

I can understand why the council might want to soften the blow and show that they have looked into other options but spending a million on a consultants report is out of order.We all know that the end result will be that the Fountains Leisure Centre will be shut. It is too run down and energy inefficient to be refurbed and the model in which community facilities are paid for by building flats has broken down - see The Watermans. A bit of honesty would be appreciated here and actually who would blame the council if they said we can't afford to keep running the centre and we can't afford to rebuild it therefore it is shutting?The million quid could have been used to soften the blow by making the reduction in council tax support for poor families £3million rather than £4million.

Kenneth Seally ● 242d11 Comments

I saw about Griffin Park. As far as I can see the plan is more or less identical to the earlier one so the delay is a bit of a mystery. Possibly an attempt was made to include taller buildings while pleading poverty which hopefully was given short shrift by the council.

Kenneth Seally ● 221d

The Griffin Park development seems to have risen from the ashes somewhat. There was a meeting at the Armenian 'church' at the end of Braemar Road a month or so back about the planning of the communal (garden) area and there will be another on Monday 16th September 4.00-7.00p.m. re planning (presumably of the buildings). I realise this doesn't necessarily mean that anything will happen in the near future but something is on the burner.

Anne England ● 234d

Thanks, Jim. As usual, a Fountain of knowledge!

Anne England ● 234d

Anne - the carved beasts sat on top of the facade of the old Brentford Market, before it was demolished in the 1970s. They are either griffins or lions. No idea why they ended up in the roof of the Leisure Centre, particularly because they are made of terracotta which doesn't like a constantly damp atmosphere.

Jim Storrar ● 234d

One of the reasons that we have such a bad housing shortage is the expectation that developers to provide community assets as well as building homes. The state should be providing the former. At the moment we have the daft situation in which property prices and rents are sky high in Brentford but development schemes such as Griffin Park and Half Acre appear to be abandoned because they won't be profitable.

Kenneth Seally ● 235d

So they've built all these horrible "affordable housing" towers all around the football stadium. With next to no facilities. And left the crumbling and flagship leisure centre there. The developers should really have rebuilt it as part of the planning application. And do so free of charge for the community. However, no rule exist to make them do that. Thats whats wrong.

Bill ● 237d

On a different but related tack, I visited the Fountain Leisure Centre this morning and for the first time EVER noticed the five or six carved beasts which sit atop the platform area above the lower observation deck (hard to describe where exactly). One of the lifeguards told me they had come from a building which previously occupied the site. The creatures look to be of different kinds - hard to discern - and may be made of a metal or carved wood. I found it hard to believe that I'd not noticed them before in the 35 or so years of The Fountain. Does anybody know what I'm talking about or have any idea where the beasts came from?

Anne England ● 237d

Can the Company who undertookthe feasibility work for £1,000,000be named?

Jim Lawes ● 239d

When a 'Feasibility study' eats up more money than id really feasible for such a straightforward matter you know something is really wrong with the way local authorities work.Nothing will ever be truly cost effective or truly up to any sort of high standard.

Raymond Havelock ● 239d

See the front page for the latest update. The council has decided it is going to close, the question is now, does it get replaced like-for-like. Cllr Tom Bruce talks of a continuing commitment to a centre at the site but does that mean a swimming pool? Talk of 'Sport England Methodology' might indicate they are looking for spurious technical reasons to justify closure.

Kenneth Seally ● 241d

While I would agree that the Fountain Leisure Centre in many respects no longer meets the standards one may expect, I am just about 100% sure in saying that energy efficient heat pumps or some such were fitted there only about two years ago. On top of that, the slide, which was out of action for years, was finally reinstated some time last year (neighbours complaining about the noise - remember?). Talk of the centre being for the chop have circulated for some years now.

Anne England ● 242d