RIVER Park leisure centre could be bulldozed and rebuilt under radical plans to improve leisure facilities in Winchester, it has emerged.

The idea was revealed when Winchester City Council unveiled major building plans for the next three years.

The council’s cabinet earmarked £500,000 for repairs to River Park Leisure Centre, as part of a £53m programme of general budget spending at a meeting last week.

But councillors said they would consult officers over the next year on whether to build a new centre that would cost millions of pounds.

Cllr Keith Wood, portfolio holder for finance and estates, said: “We are looking at River Park Leisure Centre now.

“We have not come to a view yet, but we have asked officers to look more closely as to what River Park needs doing, and to consider how long that would keep the centre going, or whether it would be more sensible to build a new leisure centre all together, and what partners we could attract to do that.”

The council scrapped plans to spend £4m repairing the centre in November due to financial constraints, but Cllr Wood said the issue would not be ignored.

“We are determined to keep leisure facilities in Winchester,” he said.

The news comes just weeks after calls to close the centre’s swimming pool.

Lib Dem councillor Margot Power said the pool was not available to those living outside the city due to the cost of getting there, and questioned the council’s continued support for the pool.

But Cllr Wood and council leader Cllr George Beckett backed the need for public swimming facilities in Winchester.

River Park was opened in 1974 and was subject to major repairs in 1987, after a fire gutted the swimming pool.

Meanwhile, the council is proposing to boost high speed Broadband throughout the district with help from government funding, the meeting heard.

Cllr Wood said: “Broadband is a very worthwhile thing and it means we can use a government grant and play our part.

“Broadband in the district is a real problem in some areas and anything we can do to help this is a good thing.”

But Cllr Kelsie Learney, leader of the opposing Lib Dems, warned the Conservative cabinet about funding such a plan.

She said: “We cannot continue going forward funding IT by selling assets or using increasingly scarce reserves.”

Cllr Beckett agreed the council would have to be careful about spending money on technology that could become outdated quickly, but said sharing the costs with other authorities would reduce financial risk.

Other projects receiving money include a £23m fund for housing repairs, new street lighting in North Walls, and improved heating in Abbey House.

The plans will go to full council next month at the annual budget meeting.