A huge thank you to everyone for your continuing support. Over 800 people have now signed the petition. Let's keep the numbers rising! 

Please can you share the petition today with 10 more people and ask them to sign?

We need to spread the word quickly if we are to stop the council. An approved planning application does NOT mean that the demolition has to go ahead

The council can still change its mind

If we fail to do protect this essential community asset, we may end up with no leisure centre at all for many years

If a new leisure centre is eventually built following demolition, it will no longer need to meet policy requirements to provide at least equal facilities in quantity and quality as an exising facility, because the existing facility will have gone. The Kingfisher will no longer be part of the equation as it is now

This is the crux of the matter

More and more people across Kingston and beyond are only just finding out that Kingston Council never intended to re-open the Kingfisher but to flatten it and leave the site empty for an unlimited period of time while it negotiates details with developers for the high rise residential and commercial development that they wish to see built on the wider site and raises the £40 million that they estimated in 2020 it might cost to build a new leisure centre

The council asserted at the time that this cost would be funded through the sale of Guildhall buildings and a £12 million loan that would be serviced from income from the new leisure facilities

This strategy seems highly risky given the financial situation in which the council currently finds itself

A closed decision, with no reasoned justification or value for money analysis or comparison with alternatives to support it - and made 11 months ago in October 2020 - that demolition of the Kingfisher was the best way forward, despite only vague unfunded plans to build a "new leisure centre" costing £40 million, can no longer be valid. 

It is on this decision that Kingston Council will be relying if they take the first hammer blow to this invaluable community and sports facility

There has never been a stronger argument to repair and re-open The Kingfisher than there is now, as we emerge from a devastating epidemic and need to ensure we get out, are active and are socialising with each other again

Our communities need The Kingfisher Leisure Centre

Now is the time to stand up and value The Kingfisher Leisure Centre for what it gives us, not for what it does not

This is why we must keep telling everyone we know about the council's plans