New sports and football hub could be coming to 'forgotten estate'

A new sports facility could be built on the site of a closed leisure centre at the heart of a Merseyside estate. The Woodchurch Leisure Centre was controversially closed for good in 2023 but new plans suggest the area could get a new lease of life.

Nearly three years ago, it was earmarked for demolition “to make way for a growth in outdoor leisure provision” as part of £20m budget cuts passed by Wirral Council that year, saving £402,000. The leisure centre had been heavily subsidised by the council and would have needed significant costs to be spent on repairs.

Following the 2022 decision, a community bid was put forward to take it over with supporters raising more than £83,000. Despite a massive community effort, this bid was unsuccessful and the money raised was redistributed to local community groups.

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A decision in 2024 to keep the leisure centre closed for good had a huge impact on the local community with strong criticism of the council in a place described as “the forgotten estate in the middle.” However as an olive branch, councillors asked officers to review future opportunities for the site for leisure and address swimming needs on the Woodchurch.

More details of what those plans could be have been revealed as part of a review of leisure services across the borough. This has brought a number of options forward for councillors to consider.

This includes a brand new Europa Pools leisure centre, a new health and wellbeing hub in the Wallasey area to replace Guinea Gap, improvements to the West Kirby Concourse, as well as bringing more services into Leasowe Leisure Centre. Parts of the Oval Leisure Centre could be closed in the next two years “whilst major infrastructural works are carried out.”

For Woodchurch, the council will look to demolish the old leisure centre in the next year so the council can engage the community on “a new sports and activity mix.” This would be subject to any business case and available funding.

In the next two years, the council will consider the development “an additional mix of sport and activity facilities” to complement the existing football pitches nearby. Beyond three years, the council would look to work with the Football Foundation to turn the site into a footballing hub alongside any other sports facilities.

Wirral’s leisure centres that are currently open would see small-scale works to improve operations, new savings targets, as well as funding cases to make significant changes to the service. In the long term, the council will also look at different ways to deliver the service.

While numbers visiting leisure centres are improving, a council report on the review ahead of a January 23 committee meeting said “there is still a large swathe of the population who do not take part in physical activity.” The local authority said this will impact council services as well as the NHS further down the line.

Wirral’s leisure centres are also ageing ranging from 35 to 117 years old and the report said regeneration plans “create opportunities to think differently about how leisure and other Council services can be more ‘joined-up.’” Higher running costs have led to more subsidies from council budgets to keep things going.

The local authority commissioned Fathom Consultancy Services (FCS) to review how the council could keep delivering leisure services into the future. They found that in the next two years, leisure services “face significant financial and service challenges” as Wirral Council is in a critical budget position with likely bankruptcy on the horizon.

The review found the current model “is not providing residents with an effective or attractive service” with “dated” facilities and “limited” performance management. FCS said the ability for the council to deliver in-house transforming was “questionable.”

According to the council report, the FCS also found “the service has done an excellent job with the available resources” but because of wider council financial issues, “there has been a general erosion of the original facilities.” All leisure facilities reportedly “need significant financial investment in infrastructure, mechanical and electrical and plumbing.”

In order to do this, FCS are recommending the council set up its own trading company to deliver these services or outsource it completely providing Wirral “with a significantly more efficient and effective means of delivering the service.” Savings targets have been put forward by the local authority of £1m from April 2025 and £2m from April 2026.

A number of other items are being considered by councillors including a presentation on community managed libraries, a new borough-wide smoke control order, a review of communal graves in Wirral, and an update on the council’s budget and public toilets. A report on communal safety has also been brought forward.