Thamesmead’s only public swimming pool is to get new boilers to save the facility from closure.
The Thamesmere Leisure Centre will get a new combined heat and power system to replace old gas boilers after Greenwich Council won a grant of up to £500,000 from Sport England.
Ann-Marie Cousins, the cabinet member for equality, culture and communities, approved the plan for GLL, the council’s leisure contractor, to carry out the works, which are expected to cost £383,000.
If the works are not carried out the future of the centre could be put at risk, a council document warned.
“Thamesmere Leisure Centre is over 36 years old and there are ongoing issues with ageing plan [which] could result in closure,” it said.
The works are due to be completed by the end of March.
Thamesmere opened in 1986 after a campaign among Thamesmead residents following the death of a toddler in one of the town’s canals.
It is the borough’s oldest swimming pool, and will soon be by some years, as the Waterfront Leisure Centre in Woolwich – which opened in 1988 – will soon be replaced by a new centre on General Gordon Square, which is currently being built.
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