OWNERS of Basingstoke’s ice rink are being encouraged to invest in the popular facility, according to the council.

A consultation has launched this month on plans to modernise the Aquadrome and the future of Basingstoke Leisure Park, including Planet Ice.

At a public engagement session last week, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and its team of experts, including multidisciplinary architecture and urban design practice BDP, were encouraged to “not lose sight of the value of the ice rink to the borough”.

A resident said that the major scheme for the leisure park was a “chance to make sure that we have an amazing ice rink for today and for the future”.

NewRiver Retail were due to redevelop the leisure park into a designer retail village alongside a host of new facilities, but it pulled of the scheme in October last year, leaving the future of Planet Ice and the Aquadrome up in the air.

The council has now decided that the scheme will not see a complete redevelopment of the park, but instead will take a gradual approach.

The council’s project director Kate Dean said: “The focus is much more towards a gradual phased approach and particularly towards looking at the undeveloped or underutilised land that we already have at the park. The objective of the team is developing a sustainable future for the leisure park.”

While the council owns the leisure park land, it leases the majority of the buildings, and has been in consultation with operators.

“BDP are talking to all of the operators on the leisure park, the intention is not to do a wholesale redevelopment, so we are keen to explore with all of the existing operators what their plans are for them to enhance the assets that they control,” Ms Dean said.

During the consultation there was a call for a combined ice rink and pool development on the site.

Ms Dean continued: “We’ve had a very long-standing dialogue with Planet Ice and Standard Securities, who own the ice rink, and that is ongoing, and we are encouraging them very strongly to invest in that asset to secure its future. We do understand how important the rink is to the borough.”

In August 2021 Planet Ice was put on the market for £2.4 million by the building’s owners Standard Securities.

Plans for the leisure park could also include bringing in new uses, including employment space such as warehouses and a self-storage facility, along with “high-quality residential”.

A draft masterplan is expected to go out to public consultation in early summer and then a final masterplan is likely to be published in late summer.