West Dunbartonshire Council has agreed to use £18 million of its own money to build a new leisure centre in Clydebank by 2016.

The new facility will replace the current Play Drome, which is in the process of being sold to Tesco.

Originally, the Council had planned to use funds from the sale of the Play Drome site to pay for the new leisure centre. With negotiations still on-going and the condition of the existing premises deteriorating, Councillors have voted to use the recently approved ten-year capital plan to earmark £18 million for the exciting development.

Now that the funding has been agreed, construction work on the new leisure centre should begin at Queen's Quay as early as next April. The construction phase is estimated to take around 17 months, meaning it could be complete before Christmas 2015, although a contingency could stretch this to March 2016 at the latest.

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Plans for the exciting new centre have already been drawn up and include a pool hall with teaching pool, competition pool and leisure features, 100 station fitness suite, 8 court sports hall, combat room, dance studio, multi-purpose rooms and a coffee shop. The centre has been designed to maximize the features of the waterfront site including spectacular views across the river Clyde from full height windows of the second floor fitness suite.

Councillor David McBride, Convener of Economic Development, said: "I am delighted that the Council has taken the decision to release the funding, allowing us to deliver on our ambition to build a new leisure centre and contribute to the regeneration of the Queens Quay site. This is great news for the future of Clydebank and the people of West Dunbartonshire, and another example of how this Council is getting on with business despite the tough economic times."

(CD/IT)