Plan for new gym shelved after failed business case

PLANS for a gym in Watlington are likely to be shelved following a failed business case.

Councillor James Herridge-Leng had submitted the document to the parish council last year but was told to answer a series of questions before resubmitting it.

He was invited to present the redrafted plan to the council’s last finance meeting but he did not attend.

Councillor Steve Bolingbroke brought the case up at a meeting of the full council and said the project “doesn’t look like it is going anywhere”.

Councillor Nicky Smallbone, who chairs the council, agreed. She said: “It isn’t going anywhere, it is as simple as that really. His business case was full of holes.”

Councillor Andy Aherne, who chairs the council’s operations committee, said this was something that the town wanted but needed someone to take it on.

He said: “We think as a town this is one of the areas that lots of members of the public have voiced an appetite for. We know that the town would love a gym but the point is that somebody needs to do something about it. If anybody takes this on, there needs to be a business case and it needs to be compelling and it needs to be moved on.”

Cllr Smallbone said the project was more a commercial one and is not something to do with the parish council.

Cllr Bolingbroke said: “If it is not commercially viable why would we subsidises it? If there is that much demand it should be stand-alone. Part of me says we are never going to do this so why carry on? Another part of me says we have got young councillors who are new to the game and want to take projects forward.

“Cllr Herridge-Leng put it on the list and that is great. I want to encourage him to do it and to work out how to do it and get enthusiasm but he actually has to do the work. If he is not doing the work let's take it off the list and do something else.”

Councillor Karyn Buck suggested the council give Cllr Herridge-Leng more time to re-submit the case but the decision was deferred.

She said: “I don’t think there is enough of us to make a definitive decision because the others aren’t here. I would like us to say a specific time scale so that it is not just whipped away. I would like to see a month’s notice.”

Councillor Tim Horton agreed that this proposal may not be for the parish council but instead for the business community to pursue.

He said: “What might be successful is if we get the dialogue going with the business community.”

Cllr Buck said she knew of someone who wanted to create a gym but was struggling to find a premises.

She said: “Alex is the chap. He has got most of the equipment, he is qualified, he is ready to go, he just can’t find anywhere to do it. What he needs is help finding a space.”

Cllr Aherne said that finding commercial premises for a business is not the council’s responsibility unless they wanted to build one on parish council land.

Cllr Smallbone said she would speak to Cllr Herridge-Leng about the project and to see if he would resubmit a revised business case.

Meanwhile, a grant application by Visit Watlington, a group which was founded in 2023 to showcase the town and reinforce a sense of local pride, had a grant application rejected.

The group requested £4,500 per year towards an advertising campaign but the council turned it down after its finance committee recommended it for refusal.

The council said that there was no evidence to suggest that the beneficiaries of the Visit Watlington site, that is the pubs, cafés and retailers, are investing in the project. It said that while it would consider match-funding contributions from businesses in the future, it agreed that it would not be a good use of public money.

If it was approved, it would have been the second largest grant that the council had awarded to an external organisation.

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