The number of people who are saying we do not want the Kingfisher Leisure Centre to be demolished is growing by the day

Please help keep the pressure on Kingston Council and our elected representatives NOT to demolish The Kingfisher by sharing this petition with five more people, and asking other people do do the same

I can find no evidence that a formal Committee decision has been made by our elected representatives to replace The Kingfisher Leisure Centre

If this is the case, the early demolition of the Centre is a highly risky strategy, with no certainty of what will replace it - if anything, when any new facilities will be open to our communities, if such facilities will replicate at least what The Kingfisher offers now, and - critically - whether any new facilities will be affordable to everyone

I have requested evidence from council officers and our council leaders of the formal decision to replace The Kingfisher

Here is the message that I sent yesterday and to which I await a response:

"I have gone through the report to the Planning Committee on 1 September 2021 and previous reports, recommendations and decisions made at the Response and Recovery Committee which include reference to The Kingfisher Leisure Centre.

However, I can not find any reference in any papers to a decision made by any committee of the council to replace the existing Kingfisher Leisure Centre. The report to Planning Committee contained only the reference to the decision made on 13 May 2021 by the Response and Recovery Committee, "to delegate authority... to approve any procurement strategies, in particular The Kingfisher Leisure Centre".

That decision is one in which authority was clearly only delegated for future approval of  procurement strategies.  The rest of the wording is ambiguous and aspirational  (strategies, ambitions and recommendation), none of which points to approval of anything.

Talk of “procurement strategies” seems to indicate that the Council approved a replacement leisure centre on a date prior to 13 May 2021, as procurement is often one of the next steps following approval.

Please can you send me relevant reports to the Council, minutes of council committee meetings and decisions made by the Council that clarify when and how the council gave approval for a leisure centre to replace The Kingfisher?

Please can you also inform me of the date on which the Decision Notice of the approval to demolish The Kingfisher Leisure Centre was published/ will be published? I have already requested this information but have not yet received it.

Yours sincerely"

Please help keep the pressure on our elected representatives to do the right thing for the residents of the Borough