VERWOOD Leisure Centre has been sold to make way for a supermarket extension and a petrol station.

Now East Dorset District councillors have agreed to a deal thrashed out between officers and Morrisons bosses over the freehold in Chiltern Drive, talk turns to funding and timing for alternative leisure facilities.

The council’s vision is for the Leisure Centre’s fitness equipment to be moved to the Hub community centre, in Brock Way, which has been run by the same group for the past six months.

Money will go towards a public sports hall at Emmanuel Middle School and extending the Hub.

Neil Farmer, a Strategic Director at East Dorset, said the full sum is still commercially sensitive and officers are calculating budget estimates for the new projects.

Dates for the move depend on when Morrisons submit a planning application for their own expansion, he said.

Mr Farmer said: “A closure date for the leisure centre rests on knowing when Morrisons will make the planning application. A successful application is the trigger for releasing funds and also controls the timescales for what we do at the Hub.

“We will have greater detail then.”

Discussions have begun with Emmanuel school and the education authority about building a hall.

Mr Farmer moved to re-assure residents worrying about a gap between the leisure centre closing and new facilities opening.

“Co-ordination is the critical thing we are trying to achieve,” he said. “We will not vacate the leisure centre without some of the other equipment being in situ. That’s an absolute must – we certainly want to achieve the move to the Hub in advance of the leisure centre having to close.”