£500,000 Towns Fund investment for Oxley Park and leisure centre site
Last September I was delighted to visit Stocksbridge Community Leisure centre and deliver the fantastic news that the Government were providing an additional £500,000 towards the continued transformation of the Oxley Park and Leisure Centre site.
This week it was wonderful to join fellow members of the Stocksbridge Town Deal Board to ‘cut the soil’ and mark the beginning of major improvements to the Leisure Centre and Oxley Park as part of an investment in the area through the Towns Fund project.
The investment will be used to create an outdoor seating and toddler play area which will link the new Stocksbridge Leisure Centre café to Oxley Park. There will also be improvements to access routes and landscaping and an upgrade to the car and cycle parking at the centre.
Work started on the project this week with contractors EC Surfacing Ltd and Kompan Ltd moving on to site and we're advised that they expect the work to take three months to complete.
This investment comes as the wider ambitious bid for up to £25 million of funding to transform the local area was last week submitted to the Government for approval.
As well as a second phase of improvements to the Leisure Centre the wide range of projects outlined in our Towns Fund bid also includes:
- Improvements to walking and cycle trails
- A major redevelopment of part of Manchester Road including a new library and community facilities
- Public realm improvements to the Manchester Road area as well as better links to other parts of the town
- A post 16 hub at Stocksbridge High School
- A new local community bus network
As Co-Chair of the Town Deal Board for Stocksbridge, and local MP, I am incredibly excited that work has commenced and I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has helped get this important community project underway.
I can’t wait to visit in the Spring to see the work completed.
