Solar panels are to be installed on the roof Preston’s Fulwood Leisure Centre to help reduce its energy bills and ensure it remains open.
The aim of the scheme is to make the Black Bull Lane facility more economically – as well as environmentally – sustainable.
The work will be funded by a £226,000 government grant, which will also be used to replace the venue’s more than 20-year-old boilers with a more efficient, modern system.
It comes after Preston City Council and the leisure centre’s operator GLL successfully bid for a share of the latest round of the Swimming Pool Support Fund.
The city previously received £255,000 from the first phase of the special government cash pot back in 2023 – which was split between the Fulwood facility and West View Leisure in Ribbleton – to help keep its leisure services afloat as energy costs spiralled.
The second phase grant is focussed on minimising the environmental impact of public sector swimming pools and putting them on a firm financial future for the long term in the process. Only one facility was eligible for support this time around in each local authority area.
Cllr Zafar Coupland, the city council’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said of the grant award: “Swimming pools are such an important part of our communities and are accessed by many as an enjoyable, low impact activity for maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle.
“The additional grant funding is a critical and very welcome boost in helping our leisure centres to stay operational and to carry out ongoing essential repairs.”
The authority’s cabinet has agreed to accept the funding and transfer it to GLL, the social enterprise which was handed control of Preston’s leisure centres in 2017.
Michael Manley, Preston Partnership Manager at GLL, said the funding bid “reinforces our commitment to supporting renewable energy, while allowing us to make vital savings on energy costs”.
He added: “These savings will be reinvested so that we can continue our ongoing programme of improvements to enhance the customer experience, offer the best possible leisure facilities and better serve the community of Preston.”
No details have yet been given about when the work will take place, nor any impact it may have on the operation of the facility for its duration.
Preston City Council commissions the Activation of Active Travel Programme
Road repairs list revealed
Crackdown on cannabis cultivation in Lancashire
Appeal following affray in Chorley
‘Greater Preston’ plan scrapped
Preston parks get green light for improvements
Preston building society branch to close for refurb
Appeal after man dies following Chorley collision
