91Èȱ¬

Plans to close a Derbyshire sports centre to make way for the rebuilding of a school have been approved.

Friesland Sports Centre in Sandiacre is on a site earmarked for the redevelopment of Friesland School.

On Tuesday, Erewash Borough Council voted to back the Department of Education plans and give up its lease on the centre.

The authority admitted it was losing a facility but said there were larger and better centres nearby.

Councillors were told Friesland was the smallest of the area's four centres with just a gym and squash courts - and had seen usage fall.

From May 2022 to April 2023 the average number of attendances was 2,162 per month, compared to the larger West Park Leisure Centre in Long Eaton, which saw 21,190 monthly visits.

Friesland Sports Centre forms part of the Friesland School campus - which granted a 99-year lease to the council for the sports centre in 1993 for an initial rent of £10,000 a year.

But this has meant the sports centre can only be used outside of school hours.

Council leader James Dawson said: "It is a shame we have had to take this decision and it's not one we would want to take.

"But to get a new school building and have the investment in education and young people - that is something I'm sure people would not want us to turn down."

The closure of the site, along with the renegotiation of the contract with the private operator of the council's leisure centres, could save the authority £120,000 a year, officials said.

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