BCP Council and Sport England funding £750,000 solar power overhaul at Two Riversmeet Leisure Centre

A CHRISTCHURCH leisure centre is spending more than three quarters of a million pounds in a bid to cut its energy bills.

Two Riversmeet Leisure Complex secured a £157,000 grant from Sport England’s Swimming Pool Support Fund to install solar panels which will heat the water in its two pools.

BCP Council, which owns and operates the centre, provided a further £600,000 towards upgrading the pool's maintenance room and air source heat pumps.

A BCP spokesperson said that with around 10,000 swimmers using the centre’s 25m and 11m pools every month, it is estimated the centre will reduce its energy usage by 100,000 kWH per year.

The energy saving is predicted to reduce the centre’s utility costs by around 20%.

BCP Council’s finance spokesperson, Cllr Mike Cox, said: “This funding award is great news, as it will help to bring a huge reduction in carbon outputs for the complex, demonstrating our commitment to sustainability and creating a greener future for our community.

“We will also see a substantial financial benefit for the leisure complex through utility cost savings in the future.

“The reduction of carbon omissions remains one of our priority objectives and we will continue to explore funding opportunities and new technologies to enable us to drive down our environmental impact even further.”

BCP Council is one of 263 local authorities to receive a share of £20m in funding from Sport England to support the “long-term sustainability of public leisure”.