Nearly £1m to help North Devon leisure facilities

Energy schemes and culture to get rural funding

Torridge Council is to invest some its rural prosperity funding of nearly £1 million from the government into improving energy efficiency at its leisure centres and boosting culture.

Burton Art Gallery in Bideford is to get £20,000, Holsworthy Amateur Theatrical Society (HATS) £10,000 and the Plough Arts Centre in Torrington £20,000.

A further £50,000 will be spent on leisure facilities run by Active Torridge on behalf of the council – Torridge Leisure Centre in Northam and Torrington and Holsworthy swimming pools.

Money from Defra’s Rural England Prosperity Fund has also been used on community infrastructure projects at Victoria Park in Bideford, where work, costing £150,000, is due to start in the next couple of weeks on a new play area for all ages and the renovation of Great Torrington Market Hall which was unveiled just before Christmas.

The £200,000 facelift to the iconic hall and pannier market built in 1842 was carried out after the Grade II listed structure was put on English Heritage’s ‘at risk’ register.

The council’s community and resources committee unanimously approved the latest allocation of funds after hearing that the money would save future spending on the leisure centres at a time when similar ones in rural areas are  closing because of high running costs.

It would also prevent costs being passed onto the public, said officers.

Among work proposed to save energy are window replacements and new pool covers at Torridge Pool and a replacement front door at Torrington to reduce heat loss. The council will be looking at lighting, pumps, energy management, microfiltration and solar PV.

Active Torridge has submitted a bid to Sports England for energy efficiency measures at all three leisure centres but it is predicted that the grant will only  cover the cost of solar panels.

The council has also applied for government funds of £1.7 million to decarbonise Holsworthy Pool.

The council said the money would help the organisations be more financially stable.