TERMS of how a new £300 million leisure park will be delivered have been agreed by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC) and NewRiver REIT Plc.

As previously reported in The Gazette, talks have been on-going between BDBC and the proposed developers as to how the redevelopment of the site would come together.

Within the proposal the site would almost double in size to 500,000sq ft, which would introduce new leisure experiences for families as well as high-adrenaline pursuits and state-of-the-art virtual reality e-sports.

As well as this, the existing leisure facilities will be greatly improved, including a new £23 million Aquadrome, which the council will run as part of the park, without public investment to build it.

In addition to this, the plans would include a 200,000 sq ft upmarket designer outlet village and the whole site would create more than 2,000 jobs for the area.

Cabinet member for finance, service delivery and improvement, Cllr Robert Tate, said that the drive for the project has been to always provide the best leisure facilities possible.

Cllr Tate said: “We want to make Basingstoke a desirable leisure destination for people to visit.

“As part of this project we have a space that is suitable for now, but we can transform it to suit what is needed of it in five, 10 or 20 years in the future.

“The drive, in principal, is to deliver a great leisure park and has high end retail with it, which will help with the whole growth of the town.”

The borough council believes that a revitalised leisure park with a new retail offer will strengthen Basingstoke’s appeal to a much wider catchment area, keeping the spending in the town from shoppers and visitors who now leave to shop or enjoy leisure facilities elsewherec

Along with the redevelopment, Milestones Museum would remain an important part of the leisure park, with NewRiver working closely with the museum to support the development of the exhibitions at the museum and create links with educational programmes on Saunder’s Field.

It is anticipated that work would start on the new leisure park from 2025, subject to planning permission.