In March 23, we have a meeting scheduled with Seven Capital. They are visiting Swindon to meet us, at a location near to the Oasis in North Star. At the meeting will be members of SOS, Labour and Conservative Councillors, Keep Swindon Tidy, as well as Leisure Architect Robert Guy.
Robert Guy worked with the original Oasis architects, who are sadly no longer with us. Robert was inspired by the Oasis Leisure Centre in its early days, which spurred him on to become a Leisure architect himself. He since went on to design many notable Leisure Centres, including Coral Reef in Bracknell. Robert has some great imagination and lots of ideas for slides, etc for the Oasis revival.
The meeting is limited on numbers, so unfortunately members of the public will not be able to attend. Cllr David Renard, Head of Swindon Borough Council will also be in attendance.
We will be meeting to discuss how things will progress with the restoration of the Oasis, as well as discuss concerns about the loss of Sports Hall and sporting facilities. Sport England, and SOS are rightly concerned about this, and want the current level of leisure facilities to remain at the Oasis – especially for a rapidly growing town the size of Swindon. We also want to understand the level of housing expected to be built around the Oasis to pay for the restoration.
My comments on latest plans. It is extremely important that the sports hall and sporting facilities are retained. They are as important as the swimming. It looks like the skiing plans are not going to happen, so go back to basics and provide proper plans for a more sustainable and sporting facilities
We need ALL of The Oasis site saved as a public sport, leisure, entertainment and recreation resource.That includes the sports hall.
I believe that both SBC and Seven Capital must comply with legislation that the legal requirement for sports and leisure facilities (per 1000 population) must be complied with under the Public Open Space Assessment and Audit. 7C do not intend to keep the sports hall and possibly not all of the football pitches etc. This would surely breach the Open Space requirement of which there is already a deficit in the town centre (SBC Open Space Audit & Assessment 2011 and 2014 records this deficit).
It looks like 7C intend to build on the car but the parking is required for people using The Oasis.
I cannot understand why any local authority would issue a lease to a company that a) has no interest or experience in leisure facilities and b) is only interested in housing.
I and many other people cannot understand why SBC does not enforce the terms of the lease and force 7C to keep the property in good order.
Q. Is there a way of taking SBC to court for failing to enforce the terms of the lease ?