By Geoff Fisher 
Reepham High School & College is progressing with its sports hall project. Outlining the plans at last week’s Reepham Town Council meeting, Joe Easton, the school’s head of physical education, stressed that the design will emphasise use of the facility by both the school and the public.
The new sports hall is associated with Lovell Homes’ wider plans to build 141 new homes on land off Broomhill Lane, Reepham, which adjoins the high school site; the planning application for the development recently received approval from Broadland District Council.
The initial concept for the 1,340 m2 sports hall, to be sited on part of the existing school playing fields, adjacent to Whitwell Road, included a “four badminton court” hall with a balcony, changing rooms, meeting, office and studio space, two classrooms and additional parking.
It is now understood that the classrooms could be dropped to make way for an extensive fitness gym, similar to the new facility at Aylsham Sports Hub, which would be run by a newly established charity as an asset for the whole community, said Mr Easton.
He confirmed that Lovell Homes, the developer of the Broomhill Lane housing site, will now provide an increased contribution of £1.8 million towards the new sports hall under a Section 106 agreement – up from £1.5 million offered earlier.
However, the facility could cost in excess of £3.2 million – a sizeable shortfall that would need to be found from various funding sources.
Community engagement events are being planned and a feasibility study is underway to find ways to increase the size of the gym. “A larger gym with more stations would attract more community involvement,” said Mr Easton.
The sports hall is the subject of a separate planning application, although uncertainties have previously been expressed about the viability of the project, as well as concerns over the loss of school playing fields and pitches.
See our earlier stories:
Broomhill Lane housing development finally approved
School sports hall ‘bribe’ should be for community benefit
High school submits plans for new sports hall
Image: Reepham Community Press