Kingston kids are growing up without a swimming pool, angry parents have said, after their council demolished a leisure centre before discovering it did not have enough money in its budget for the replacement.

Families staged a protest in swimming gear ahead of Kingston Council's corporate and resources committee on Thursday (March 30) after learning the plans to build a new complex to replace the Kingfisher Leisure Centre had been delayed. The council was told through a tendering process it would cost £79.5million to build the new facility granted planning permission in May 2022 – much higher than the £43.8m it had put aside for it.

Lib Dem council leader Andreas Kirsch revealed the council has spent £2.7m on the project so far and an extra £900,000 on demolishing the Kingfisher at the meeting. The Kingfisher shut in 2019 after it was decided repairs to fix the roof would cost more than £5m.

The site of the old Kingfisher Leisure Centre which was demolished last year. Credit: Charlotte Lillywhite/LDRS

Residents slammed the council's management of the project ahead of the meeting. Mum-of-two Tania Park, 40, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service many "children will never, ever experience swimming and it's extremely sad".

She said: "We're here because our children haven't got anywhere to swim. By the time we find somewhere to swim they'll be teenagers who will have gone, who would have never gained those skills."

Annalise Cheetham, 40, added: "I've stopped hoping for a swimming pool for my kids to swim in. I'm hoping they'll get a saturday job as teenagers. It's taken that long." Caitlin Elster, 48, said: "It's like send in the wrecking balls and then say we don't have the money to pick up the pieces and it's our communities that suffer. It's our children that don't learn to swim."

Residents also demanded answers about the project at the meeting. Anna Gorrell said: "I'm a mum of two boys who loved the Kingfisher and I'm here tonight for them and for all the other children in Kingston who because of the decisions of this council are growing up without access to a swimming pool, who can't get swimming lessons because waiting lists are too long and private gyms unaffordable and the primary school kids who've had their school swimming slashed because their schools can't walk to the Kingfisher anymore."

Anna Gorrell at the meeting. Credit: Bobby Vasilev/BobbyVMedia

Ms Gorrell said the council's announcement on the delay "lacked any substance and offered no reassurance".

Local Jon Tolley asked councillors to apologise for demolishing the Kingfisher "with no workable financial plan in place for its replacement and for omitting this information to the recent budget council" on March 2. He later said residents were not "getting answers to the things that we're asking".

Jon Tolley at the meeting. Credit: Bobby Vasilev/BobbyVMedia

Councillor Kirsch said the procurement process was terminated on March 8 and the £43.8m figure was reported to budget council. He said: "The decision to demolish the Kingfisher Leisure Centre was taken based upon clear advice that the roof was unsafe and a decision being made to ultimately replace it with a new leisure centre."

He added: "I fully understand that residents are frustrated and disappointed and I regret that factors outside of the control of the council have forced the council to delay the project." He said the construction industry and wider economy is facing "unprecedented pressures" with high inflation, labour and skill shortages and supply chain issues.

Councillor Kirsch continued: "The council remains fully committed to developing a new leisure centre to replace the old Kingfisher. There was no need to retain the old centre and so it was demolished to reduce holding costs and liabilities. The council remains fully committed to delivering a new leisure centre on the site and so the investment made in demolishing and removing the old building was not lost." 

Locals Mediha Boran and Tony Lancaster presented a petition to the committee demanding a full statement on the delay, which has been signed by more than 1,000 people in just four days.

Mediha Boran and Tony Lancaster presenting the petition. Credit: Bobby Vasilev/BobbyVMedia

After the meeting, Councillor Kirsch said the £43.8m budget remains ringfenced to build a new leisure centre on the same site. The council is looking into alternatives to the original facility and will provide more details in due course.

Councillor Kirsch said the authority is working with existing partners to explore alternative or temporary swimming provision, with leisure facilities available in the borough at the Malden Centre – along with access to pools in neighbouring boroughs like Merton, Sutton, Richmond, Elmbridge and Epsom and Ewell.

He said: "We were on track to deliver a design based on local feedback, we had the budget secured, and we were in the process of bringing on board a construction partner. But factors outside of our control changed the finances. We are committed to building a new swimming and leisure centre on the same site in Kingston town centre, and that remains unchanged.

"With the development of the new complex progressing as planned, the old, unsafe and closed centre was demolished to reduce holding costs and liabilities, ready for construction of the new complex. The investment made in demolishing and removing the old building will not be lost."