{"id":586034,"date":"2026-08-07T13:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T13:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/586034\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T13:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T13:48:08","slug":"biggleswade-saxon-pool-and-leisure-centre-revamp-plans-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/586034\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggleswade Saxon Pool and Leisure Centre revamp plans approved"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plans to renovate a leisure centre to expand its fitness facilities have been approved by the council.<\/p>\n

Improvements will go ahead at Saxon Pool and Leisure Centre in Biggleswade as Central Bedfordshire Council noted increased competition with new commercial gym facilities arriving in the town.<\/p>\n

The authority said the upgrades would make better use of the building’s existing footprint, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Works will be phased to reduce disruption and are expected to be completed during 2027.<\/p>\n

The improvements include an expanded fitness suite, larger reformer Pilates studios, a bigger caf\u00e9 area and redesigned reception to improve accessibility.<\/p>\n

Independent Biggleswade West councillor Steve Watkins told the council’s executive on Tuesday, external<\/a>: “It’s now a fairly dated 1980s leisure centre, so this is a very welcome investment.”<\/p>\n

The council’s Biggleswade joint committee will ask officers to consider more strategic issues about the site’s future in due course.<\/p>\n

With a PureGym due to open in the town in September, independent councillor Hayley Whitaker said the council-run centre should retain a distinct community role, especially for residents who cannot use commercial gyms.<\/p>\n

During last week’s Biggleswade joint committee meeting, she said she felt it was a “massive shame” the centre would lose its creche space. <\/p>\n

“I still can’t get over the one point of difference from which Saxon Leisure benefited was its creche facility for residents,” she said.<\/p>\n

Do you have a story suggestion for Beds, Herts or Bucks? Contact us below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plans to renovate a leisure centre to expand its fitness facilities have been approved by the council. Improvements…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[499,103,61,60],"class_list":["post-586034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}