A NEW park, improved attractions with green spaces and a range of outdoor activities are just some of the ideas for Basingstoke Leisure Park that council chiefs now want the public’s view on. 

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has revealed future plans for the council-owned site more than a year after NewRiver pulled out of a £300m redevelopment.

NewRiver Retail was due to turn the facility into a designer retail village and a host of new leisure facilities, but a lengthy legal challenge and the Covid pandemic led to several delays - eventually seeing it pull out in 2021 after it became no longer “financially viable”.

The authority has now revealed less grand ideas for the area in a masterplan. This will see the Aquadrome built in a new location, and much of the plan focussed on improved outdoor space. 

The draft masterplan has come under criticism from opposition councillors, with Labour leader Cllr Andrew McCormick saying it lacks ‘ambition and vision’. 

READ MORE: Former mayor brands Basingstoke projects 'completely disastrous, outrageous litany of failures'

Also inside: 

  • A couple who have run a paper shop in Whitchurch for 35 years are set to retire
  • Two men from Basingstoke have been arrested on suspicion of people smuggling offences after a joint operation foiled an attempt to smuggle migrants to the UK
  • A public consultation on plans to build 250 new homes on a Basingstoke golf course has begun
  • A drug dealer has been given a suspended sentence after he was found in a taxi with thousands of pounds worth of drugs
  • Basingstoke has been named the third most dangerous major town in Hampshire, according to new figures
  • Doctors and nurses at Basingstoke hospital are bracing themselves for the flu and Covid ‘twindemic’ this winter
  • A Basingstoke woman has been devastated after her valuables were stolen from a locker while she was working out in a gym in Chineham
  • Plans for a ‘high quality redevelopment’ of a housing association’s former office building, including 43 apartments, have been unveiled
  • The leader of the Basingstoke and Deane Labour group has urged the council to withdraw from proposals for mandatory voter ID at polling stations in the 2023 and all subsequent elections
  • PLUS: All the latest from Basingstoke Magistrates' Court
  • Two pages of your letters to the editor
  • Pictures: Camera Club members show photos of wheels and wings
  • Two pages of news from our communities
  • An eight-page puzzle special
  • Two pages of business news
  • Three pages of entertainment news
  • Four pages of sports news. And much more!

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