Paradise (Pools) lost when new leisure centre opens but existing gym to remain

The opening of Ely’s state of the art leisure centre will signal Paradise lost for lovers of the existing swimming pools – but pool staff employed by the council will get to keep their jobs, enquiries by Spotted in Ely reveal.
This week Councillor Richard Hobbs, chair of East Cambridgeshire District Council’s commercial services committee confirmed that the new leisure centre would replace Paradise Pools, which are operated by Everyone Active on behalf of the council.
“Existing pool staff currently employed by East Cambridgeshire District Council will transfer across to the new leisure centre on protected terms of employment (TUPE).”

The Paradise Pools offer a range of water based activities including an award winning swim school, Swim 4 Fitness, Swim 4 All and fitness classes such as Aqua Fit.

Asked whether pricing and swimming lessons and activities would continue as normal, Cllr Hobbs said ECDC would “build as much continuity as possible into the booking arrangements and pricing structure”.
The council is discussing these matters with the new operators and more information will be released as it becomes available.
The Paradise Centre, which operates outside ECDC’s responsibilities, will stay open as normal once the new leisure centre is completed.
Last week we reported that Sport England had approved a lottery award of £1.5M towards the development of the new leisure centre, which gave it the green light to go ahead.

Work is expected to start on the site next month, with the facility due to open in early 2018.
The centre will include an eight lane 25m swimming pool, a learner pool with moveable floor, a health and fitness suite with 120 stations, two activity studios, a four court sports hall and a 3G artificial grass pitch.
Pellikaan is the preferred contractor for the centre’s construction.
Once complete, GLL, a large leisure trust, operating over 200 leisure facilities across the country, will manage the new facilities on the council’s behalf.