Bid to tempt leisure centre visitors into town (From The Advertiser Series)

Regeneration of Spennymoor Leisure Centre and High Street link

2:58pm Sunday 17th February 2013 in News By Catherine Priestley, Chief Reporter (Sedgefield)

THREE councillors who backed a £40,000 regeneration project around Spennymoor Leisure Centre hope it will have wide-reaching benefits in the town.

The work focussed on the link to the high street and came about after residents voiced concerns about the area looking tired.

Two statues, of a diver and a squash racket, were removed, improvements are being made to paving, seating and flower beds and a walkway cleaned and relit.

Durham County Councillors Barbara Graham, Kevin Thompson and Neil Foster each contributed around £6,000 from their neighbourhood budgets. Further funding came from the council’s regeneration department and the Urban Rural Renaissance Initiative and involved neighbourhood services and Spennymoor Leisure Centre.

Coun Barbara Graham: “It is so well used we want people who visit the leisure centre to go into our town centre and hopefully spend money there so the whole town benefits.

“A nice environment is really important to people.”

Coun Kevin Thompson: “The leisure centre attracts many people to our town who get no further than the car par behind High Street.

“In helping to jointly fund this refurbishment I hope I am helping to provide a more desirable access to our leisure centre and to our high street.

“By taking out some of the shrubs and trees the area will be brighter and becomes less of a litter trap, making it easier to keep clean and presentable.”

He said with the opening of a JD Wetherspoon pub due in April and recent shop front improvements the town is looking much better.

Coun Neil Foster added: “It was definitely looking tired but now it is more open and people can see what is going on.”