THE £13million Manor Park Leisure Centre is on hold indefinitely.
East Northamptonshire Council has pulled the plug on the leisure facility until ‘the economic situation has improved’.
Leader of the council, Cllr Andy Mercer, said the public sector finances are in much worse shape than previously feared and the council was expecting funding cuts of 25 per cent or even 40 per cent.
He said: “We were left with no choice but to take a long hard look again at whether we could afford it.
“It is very disappointing but in the end the council reluctantly decided it should stop now, before contracts are signed and the council is financially committed to the project.
“Instead, we will aim to keep the current leisure facilities open while they are still able to be maintained.
“Sadly, the halting of the leisure project will also mean that we will no longer be funding the £100,000 worth of upgrades that were planned for the rugby pitches at Manor Park.
“This decision means we won’t be spending £4.4 million from our reserves and we won’t be borrowing a further £6.7 million.
“By halting at this point, we have minimized the impact on council taxpayers.
“The money spent so far came from Government grants that we received specifically for the project.
“If we had signed contracts, then we would have been committing the council to the project for the next 40 years.”
Cllr Mercer said the council was still committed to the regeneration of Rushden town centre with the first phase of improvements to the High Street, hopefully using the Government grant originally earmarked for Manor Park.
