Issue - meetings

1.       That the feedback from the resident engagement undertaken in June 2025 be noted.

2.       That the recommended approach to market the site for sale and find a new investor be agreed, including agreeing the evaluation criteria as set out in paragraph 11.8 of report CAB3466.

3.       That resident engagement events take place following the receipt of expressions of interest stage and final bid as part of the on-going and continued commitment to resident and stakeholder engagement.

4.       That a budget of £130,000 be approved, financed from the MIR reserve, to fund the costs of marketing the site.

5.       That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director with responsibility for the former Leisure Centre site project to market the site and invite bids.

6.       That a further report be brought back to Cabinet with recommendation to approve the sale of the site to the preferred bidder.

In Councillor Becker’s absence, Councillor Tod introduced the report which outlined the background to the current proposals and set out plans to market the site for sale with evaluation criteria at paragraph 11.8 of the report.  Initial public consultation on options for its future use had been undertaken with the results summarised in paragraph 6.4 of the report.  The proposed plan confirmed that at least two further rounds of consultation would take place.

Ian Tait and Lucy Taylor spoke during public participation as summarised briefly below.

          Ian Tait

Ian Tait reminded members that he had spoken in support of the previous proposal in 2022 to lease the site to Southampton University and would welcome the use of the site for arts or cultural purposes.  However, he believed there had been a lack of progress since and highlighted the negative impact on the area of the old leisure centre building in its current state.  He queried what were the results of the earlier consultation which took place in 2022 and believed the latest consultation was inadequate.  In general, he would support any new proposal that was deliverable in the area.

Lucy Taylor (Winchester Lido group)

Lucy Taylor highlighted that over 3,000 people had signed the recent petition supporting the provision of a Winchester lido and the council’s most recent consultation had indicated a lido was the most suggested option for the site.  Lidos were seeing a resurgence in popularity across the country with new lidos being developed in several areas.  She highlighted the many benefits for both physical and mental health and also in terms of economic benefits to the area.  In summary, she urged the council to work with partners to provide a Winchester lido.

At the invitation of the Leader, Councillors Cook, Laming, Lee, Tippett-Cooper and Godfrey addressed Cabinet as summarised briefly below.

Councillor Cook

Councillor Cook made reference to the previous decision by Cabinet on 4 March 2022 to grant a five year option period to Southampton University (SU).  She expressed concern about the fact there was no contract, no legal obligation for SU to apply for planning consent and queried whether SU had been seriously interested in progressing.  With regard to the current proposals, she believed the consultation was inadequate, expressed concern about the council entering into an agreement with only one partner again and about any proposal to dispose of existing public car parking spaces.

Councillor Lee

Councillor Lee welcomed confirmation that the site was a district asset and asked that future consultations better reflect this by engaging with residents across the district.  He supported the use of a brownfield site to meet community requirements, but raised a number of queries and concerns, including the cost to the council of surveys and what options would be available if a viable investment proposal was not forthcoming.   He emphasised the sensitive nature of the site and believed that emerging Local Plan new policy NE17 should be regarded as a material consideration, particularly as it was in a flood  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7