You may remember a striking image on The Gazette’s front page of daredevils zip-wiring through the sky at a newly-reimagined Basingstoke Leisure Park.

It accompanied the 2019 story of how the borough council had appointed property giant New River to redevelop the 66-acre site, home to Planet Ice and the Aquadrome.

Back in 2018, the developer announced plans to create a designer shopping village with “exciting leisure facilities”, popular family restaurants, and a hotel. They said at the time work could begin “as early as 2023”.

But one global pandemic later - and a host of changes in consumer habits - has left New River very quiet.

The Gazette was told to expect an update from New River by the end of July by council leader Ken Rhatigan. It is now approaching late August and still no news.

So what is happening at Basingstoke Leisure Park and how will it affect facilities?

Here, we try to find out:

Firstly, who is New River?

New River is FSTE250 real estate investment trust which specialises in buying and managing retail estates across the UK. It owns 33 shopping centres, 19 retail parks, and around 700 pubs.

What is its relationship to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council?

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council own the 66-acre leisure park. It appointed New River as its nominated developer in 2018 to redevelop the site, which would include knocking down existing units to rebuild a modern designer shopping village and a new swimming centre. The agreement will see New River be granted a 250-year lease to manage the site.

Why did the council want to develop the leisure park in the first place?

The leisure park is described as “ageing” by the borough council and was widely accepted across the political spectrum as needing a bit of love in the form of a makeover.

With the town set to expand by a further 15,000 homes by 2029, the council said it wanted to create an “outstanding leisure and designer outlet destination of choice” for the south of England, contributing to the long-term vision of Basingstoke as a leading town in the region.

What has the council said about New River’s silence?

An update on the council's website reads: “NewRiver is working on complex and extensive proposals to create new activities and experiences to double the size of the existing leisure offer at the council’s ageing 60-acre leisure park, together with a designer outlet village to create a unique new destination.

“The current leisure park needs a major upgrade and investment. Using this investment from NewRiver we can continue to give our residents access to high-quality leisure facilities, attracting residents from elsewhere in the region to spend their money in Basingstoke. The development would bring significant benefits to the borough in terms of new jobs, a boost for the local construction industry, increased rents and business rates, and attract new income into the local economy.

“Unsurprisingly, this has been a particularly difficult period for the leisure industry and the Covid-19 pandemic has further impacted on progress on the leisure park redevelopment. This is on top of a significant legal challenge to the development agreement, now successfully resolved, that caused a 22-month delay.

“NewRiver is currently working on updating its proposals to bring this major investment to our town in the current difficult economic climate and assessing what types of leisure will work best in future in a very different post-Covid world. This includes resetting the programme for submission of a future planning application."

“This is a large-scale redevelopment, requiring hundreds of millions of pounds of investment and is very long term in nature. There is still a significant amount of work that will be required before a planning application can be submitted.

“A development of this scale is a highly complex project, the delivery of which will need to be carefully planned. The council is keen to see updated proposals go back to public consultation as soon as possible in a Covid-safe way.”

Where would development leave the Aquadrome, Milestones and the ice rink?

The council owns both the Aquadrome buildings and the ice rink. The council pays outsourcing firm Serco to run the swimming pool. Standard Securities has a 150-year lease for the ice rink who in turn lease out the day-to-day runnings to Planet Ice. Nice and straight forward. There has been a big public row between the council and ice rink operators in recent months about who is responsible to pay for urgent repairs.

Under this agreement, NewRiver is required to consider the long-term options for providing an ice rink in Basingstoke in the future while it is in the conditions that New River will build a new swimming centre.

Providing an updated Aquadrome, which is owned by the council and operated on its behalf, and protecting and enhancing the Hampshire Cultural Trust’s Milestones museum are specifically covered in the development agreement between the council and NewRiver. In the meantime the council is undertaking repairs to the Aquadrome to ensure that the existing facility can continue to operate for the foreseeable future.

NewRiver’s redevelopment plans will not provide a short-term solution for the ice rink, but the company has consistently expressed its support for the retention of the ice rink at a redeveloped leisure park including potential investment in the external refurbishment of the building.