A TEMPORARY sports hall costing as much as £400,000 could be constructed in Monmouth to prevent disruption to school pupils’ PE lessons.

Following the demolition of Monmouth’s swimming pool in March 2016, planning permission was approved earlier this year to develop Monmouth Leisure Centre into an ‘attractive leisure offer’ for the town, including a 25-metre swimming pool, fitness suite and spa.

It was originally thought the transformation would cost around £6 million, but a report which will be discussed by the council this week finds the cost will be £6.99 million. Additional building costs could mean that figure increases to a maximum of £7.4 million but according to the report the most likely scenario is the total cost would be £7.28 million.

This additional expense largely comes from a proposed 700 square metre temporary sports hall, which would be used by the school until the permanent hall is completed.

If approved, the 35x20 metre temporary structure would be located on the site of the existing tennis courts near Monmouth Leisure Centre, at the cost of up to £414,000.

It was originally planned to construct the swimming pool in the under-construction Monmouth Comprehensive School, but a report commissioned by Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) at the cost of more than £200,000 found a preferred layout would see the main school building incorporating a sports hall rather than a swimming pool.

However following consultation with the school, which isn’t due to be fully open until the start of the 2018/19 academic year, it has been identified that the closure of the sports hall would lead to on-site PE provision no longer being available. Furthermore, it is said disruption to exam timetabling could have a detrimental impact on pupils’ achievements and safeguarding.

A business case will go before MCC this week detailing the plans for the replacement pool and the redesign of the leisure centre.

At the meeting councillors will debate a number of alternatives to constructing this temporary structure.

These include constructing the works on the leisure centre but leaving the school without a sports hall, delaying the leisure centre until the school and sports hall are complete and leaving the leisure centre open until the school is complete and then beginning work on the swimming pool.

Of the four options proposed, the preferred option is to construct a temporary hall. If this option, known as ‘option two’, is taken forward, the leisure centre will remain open until this temporary structure is completed.

The report in front of council says: “Option two is the preferred option because it allows the school curriculum to continue whilst ensuring the Monmouth build is not further delayed impacting upon the community.”

However the report also states the work could impact on the safeguarding of pupils, and that it will take time to address site issues such as flood assessment surveys and safety concerns. It also highlights the additional cost of the structure.

The project is expected to take 55 weeks, with initial shut down on the site to last 31 weeks. Week 32 could see part of the centre re-opened, however significant health and safety issues have been identified which would indicate that it may be in the best interests of MCC and the community to close the site for the whole period of the development.

It is hoped the works could be completed by November 2018 but the worst case scenario could mean the swimming pool would not be open until early January 2019.