A CITY councillor has warned that his party risks losing control of Winchester City Council over the controversy about the future of the River Park Leisure Centre.

Cllr Charles Radcliffe, a Liberal Democrat, has said public anger over plans to transfer the land to Southampton University could rebound in the elections in May.

The council has agreed to transfer the site to the university on a long lease, sparking fears that the public facilities will be lost to a private body.

But the decision has prompted a legal challenge from the newly-formed Friends of River Park and a campaign to save the skate park that would be included in the transfer.

Cllr Radcliffe, in a blog, said the deal with the university would be good for Winchester, but added: "How can something so good end up looking so bad? Last year, the City Council seized the opportunity of a deal with the University of Southampton, which is ready to invest £100 million in redeveloping the site of the disused leisure centre in River Park. But it failed to anticipate a potential court challenge and a storm of public anger that could yet put at risk both the deal itself and, with elections looming, the Liberal Democrats' hold on the Council."

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He said the council needs to run "an open, competitive bidding process, and let the public have their say."

"The trouble is, in their haste to lock in Southampton University, the city council forgot to ask the community what it wanted to see on the site. I think it's unlikely any other bidder could match what the university is offering but we'll never know if the council denies everyone else a chance to put alternative ideas forward. It was a point that I and several other Lib Dem councillors, including all three local ward councillors, made back in November, when Cabinet first decided to go with the university. They didn't listen then but it's not too late to listen now."

In the blog Cllr Radcliffe addresses the issue of the skate park: "To make matters worse, the council is including the existing skatepark in the land it's offering Southampton University, albeit on condition the university maintains it. People are asking -- quite reasonably -- what Southampton University wants with a public skatepark. Presumably, the answer is: in case it decides it needs the space for redevelopment in future. If it does, then under proposed terms of agreement it could apparently build over the existing skatepark as long as it provides an alternative facility somewhere else. Fears for the skatepark's future have ignited a popular grassroots campaign that's exploded on the ground, online and the front page of the Chronicle: "Save our Skatepark!"

SEE ALSO: Letter: Proposed takeover of River Park Leisure Centre by Southampton University

Cllr Radcliffe said there was misinformation afoot including the falsehood that Southampton University wants to build on the parkland at River Park.

But he warned the political danger ahead for the Lib Dems with the public feeling a deal is being railroaded: "There are plenty of local groups who want a chance to pitch their own proposals for the site -- some want a lido, others a park, a campsite, or a museum. They deserve a shot just as much as the University. By denying them that chance, the Council has unwittingly fuelled public anger. If it doesn't change tack, the blowback could put at risk Lib Dem control of the Council at elections this May."

 

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