The Sports Trust is delighted to announce that it has exchanged contracts to acquire the Folkestone Sports Centre. After many months of productive discussions with the Administrator and key stakeholders, it has finalised an agreement and anticipates taking ownership shortly.
Dan Hulme, Chief Executive Officer of The Sports Trust, says:
“We are excited to be acquiring Folkestone Sports Centre. It was much loved and had been immensely important to our community. We are now able to look forward to bringing it back to life and re-establishing it as an excellent facility. We will be managing it alongside our other Sports Trust facilities in Folkestone, F51, the Three Hills and Folkestone Sea Sports Centre.”
Dan Hulme continues:
“This important acquisition for The Sports Trust would not have been possible without the incredibly generous support of The Roger De Haan Charitable Trust (RDHCT), whose Chairman, Sir Roger De Haan is our Patron. The RDHCT has been a major benefactor since we began operating in 2013 and we are very grateful to him and his Trustees for their ongoing support and commitment, enabling us to significantly improve sports provision in our district. By providing us with the funds to be able to purchase this site and to instigate building works, they have allowed us to preserve the centre for our community.”
On behalf of the RDHCT and as Patron of the The Sports Trust, Sir Roger comments: “In November last year we were able to outbid a number of housing developers to ensure that The Folkestone Sports Centre could be saved. We did this with the knowledge that we had the support of Folkestone and Hythe District Council and the Folkestone Estate, who originally gifted the land to the Sports Centre in the late 1960s. The Sports Centre has been extraordinarily important to Folkestone. Its swimming pool has, over the years, been enjoyed by a vast number of people and it is where many of our local children have learnt to swim. The Sports Trust will be the perfect guardian for the Sports Centre. With so much experience in operating its three centres, it has the skills and the economies of scale to be extraordinarily well placed to revive it and operate it successfully in the future.”
MP for Folkestone and Hythe, Tony Vaughan comments, “It’s brilliant news that The Sports Trust, with the backing of the Roger De Haan Charitable Trust, has stepped in to bring back the Sports Centre, and secure the future of this vital local community facility.”
The Folkestone Sports Centre was built in 1972 and, after becoming insolvent, has been closed for nearly a year. The Sports Trust has undertaken a significant amount of due diligence on the site, including structural and equipment surveys, to understand the building’s condition and to assess the work that will be needed to ensure that the centre complies, in the future, with all Health and Safety and modern building regulations. The Sports Trust has been working with Sport England and the sports consultants, FMG who specialise in leisure centre regeneration, to make sure that when we do reopen the facility, it will be operationally and financially sustainable.
Paul Carney, Chairman of The Sports Trust says:
“We are working with all partners, including Sport England and Folkestone and Hythe District Council, and our local MP Tony Vaughan to secure the additional funds needed to carry out the necessary works to re-open the centre. We will be reaching out for further help, and we will need significant support from the community to deliver this exciting project.”
Carney continues:
“We understand the impact that the closure of the Sports Centre has had on clubs and groups, who suddenly found themselves without a home. There is considerable work to be done to the centre to ensure that it complies with all necessary regulations and is fit, not only for this generation, but generations to come. We hope to begin this month and anticipate that all essential works on the building and equipment will be completed over the next twelve months, subject to successful funding.”
Dan Hulme, Chief Executive Officer, The Sports Trust concluded:
“The Sports Trust has an unwavering commitment to provide excellent sporting facilities that are open and accessible so that as many as possible can enjoy the benefits of physical activity. We are very much looking forward to working and engaging with the community on this project. For now, we simply ask for a little more patience. The Folkestone Sports Centre will be an exciting addition to The Sports Trust, and we will work tirelessly to open it again as soon as possible.”
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