Work begins on £6m leisure centre improvements

Work is beginning on £6m of heating improvements at two leisure centres.

The White Horse Leisure Centre in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, will see air source heat pumps installed, powered by 600 new solar s on the building's roof.

Vale of White Horse District Council said the work would reduce its overall carbon emissions by more than 25%.

The work is set to finish in March 2026, with similar improvements planned for Wantage Leisure Centre in due course.

The council said disruption to the centre's s would be minimal, with the majority of work taking place outside the building.

Councillor Andrew Crawford, cabinet member for finance and property, said: "The use of renewable energy at the leisure centres will make them cheaper to run and less vulnerable to sudden rises in energy costs.

"[This will make] them much more economically viable in the long term."

The council added updated information would be available on the leisure centre's webpage.

Much of the £6m comes from the government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Further funding comes from Community Infrastructure Levy - money from new local developments which goes towards local infrastructure projects.

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