Plan for 60 new homes estate on site of former leisure centre

PLANS have been unveiled for a “much needed” housing estate where a leisure centre once stood with funds generated from it propping up the cost of its controversial replacement.

- By ROBERT BODDY Local Democracy Reporter

Sevenoaks Council's plans for the former White Oak Leisure Centre site in Swanley would be a “risk” for any private developer according to documents submitted to the authority.

But because the local authority is not seeking to turn a profit, it insists the 60-home scheme proceeds as planned. Bond Bryan submitted the plans earlier this year for housing on land at Hilda May Avenue.

The brownfield site once hosted the town’s former White Oak Leisure Centre, but it was demolished in 2021 to make way for its £20m replacement, which opened in February 2022 next to the previous site. The planning application states: “Sevenoaks council are using this development as a means of funding the new White Oak Leisure Centre.”

The architects continue: “This site presents a unique opportunity to create a high quality residential development that seamlessly integrates into the newly developed 60-home estate would result in a gross development value of less than £3m, or -584 per cent.