Work to start soon to cash in on Olympics (From The Northern Echo)

Work to start soon to cash in on Olympics

5:32pm Monday 6th February 2012 in Hartlepool News

A SCHEME to build a sports and leisure centre was approved by councillors yesterday.

The plan is to build nearly 250 homes in order to pay for two sports domes, refurbish a bar large enough to accommodate 300 people and build a restaurant, at the Mayfair Centre, in Seaton Carew.

Developers say the sports domes, one for golf and one for football, will be the only ones of their type in the Tees Valley.

The idea is to start work almost immediately in order to cash in on a rush of interest expected to be generated by the Olympic Games.

The £7m plan was given unanimous backing at Hartlepool Borough Council's planning committee, despite concerns that only two of the new homes will be designated for social housing - less than one per cent of the total investment. The council's aspiration is that ten per cent of all new housing should be affordable to poorer members of the community.

However, the attraction of a development that could bring visitors into the resort and create 30 permanent and 30 seasonal jobs, as well as stimulating the local construction industry, won the argument.

Seaton is also due to lose its only other existing sports hall due to cutbacks.

The proposal includes the construction of two domes, using a durable membrane inflated from the ground.

One would be large enough to accommodate six five-aside pitches. The other would be used for various golf challenges.

In the main Mayfair Centre a balcony, gym, sauna and sensory room would be created in the existing building.

A children's play area and cafe would also be built. The new homes would be built south of the venue, in Headingley Court, the Ashes, Pavilion Close and Lingdale Drive.

Private investors will pay about £2m to purchase land and £5m on construction.

Cath Hill is ward councillor for Seaton and also a member of the planning committee.

She spoke to urge fellow councillors to support the proposal.

She said: "A ll these years we get told from the council leader or mayor or whoever, 'yes, we would love to develop Seaton Carew but we've no money'.

"Well, we now have the situation where there's a wonderful opportunity for development and we should take it."

Objections raised in letters and by councillors concerned drainage, transport, and wildlife and environment problems, but council officers said many of these issues were dealt with in conditions imposed on the property developers.