Save New Mills sports hall
Our sports hall is at risk of being shrunk down to a size that will interfere with a large number of sports, and our schools’ programme.
You can tell HPBC what you think of their plans now!
High Peak Borough Council are running a public consultation about the future of the leisure centre which includes three options. One of these options would like to reduce the size of the sports hall at New Mills leisure centre by approximately a quarter.
Currently the hall measures 33m x 18m and is set to be reduced by the width of one badminton court (i.e. reduced from a four-court to a three-court hall). ‘Option 1’ from the councils consultation involves using this space for a new fitness studio and gym.
This will result in a much smaller sports hall with a far more limited range of activities possible.
Is there hope?
Yes. Council leaders are running a consultation on this matter. We must speak up if we want to save our full-sized sports hall.
Join our mailing list and we’ll keep you in the loop.
Why save the full-sized sports hall?
Some sports would be eliminated: Some sports such as basketball, netball, korfball and indoor cricket require a full-size sports hall, or they cannot take place. The highly popular rollerblading/skating sessions would be difficult in a smaller space too and could likely only operate with a much reduced capacity.
Reduced schools provision: The sports hall is used by 1400 primary and secondary school children each academic year. New Mills is the only town in the High Peak which offers School Sport on this scale thanks to the full-sized sports hall – it effectively provides school sport on a whole community level. This programme would be severely compromised and young people would miss out.
Reduced league opportunities: The possibility to play many competitive sports in line with sporting governing body rules would be gone forever: for example futsal, volleyball and tchoukball.
Reduced flexibility: At 33m x 18m the sports hall is already slightly below the minimum size recommended by Sports England (34.5 x 20 m). No one would choose to build a new hall smaller than the hall’s current size. With 4 courts, the space enables several activities to occur at the same time and minimises the time people spend waiting their turn, especially for racket sports.
Reduced opportunities to ‘Move More’: The council’s ‘Move More’ strategy is committed to helping people in the High Peak take regular exercise. In that light, how can a decision to destroy or damage so many sports be justified for the sake of yet more gym and studio space? These investments are for the sake of adults, gym users and fitness class goers at the exclusion of everyone else – especially children.
How would a smaller sports hall affect sport?
| Activities | Impact if sports hall reduced |
| Basketball, indoor cricket, indoor rounders, korfball, netball, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby. | No longer officially possible at any level. Training might be possible for some sports but it would be officially non-compliant. |
| Futsal, volleyball, tchoukball | Still possible at community level but not at all higher levels (i.e. ‘Club’, ‘Premier’ or ‘International’) |
| Badminton, pickleball, walking tennis. | Large impact. Already the pickleball club is oversubscribed and racket sports are having to share club nights (e.g. badminton and pickleball). There is little availability for extra club slots, and ad hoc court bookings by individuals are already extremely difficult to make. |
| Handball, five a side rugby, tennis and indoor hockey. | Not officially possible even with current 33*18 sports hall |
| Primary schools programme | Major impact. Much fewer children will be able to attend in one go. If activities are only available to small groups (rather than full classes) schools will need to find money for extra staff cover, or cancel their attendance. |
| Secondary school programme | Major impact. The PE curriculum could not be delivered in an economically sustainable way. It would effectively ‘kill’ competitive sport for secondary children at New Mills School. |
“These clubs may not generate as much revenue as a gym, but they play a crucial role in the sports development pathways within the town. For instance, a girl can progress from learning basketball in primary school to playing in school competitions, receiving PE instruction in high school, joining an after-school basketball club, and eventually participating in a women’s basketball club. A smaller sports hall would render these pathways unviable“.
– Sue Fisher, Vice chair of governors at New Mills School and PE Coordinator at New Mills Primary School
Maximising sports hall usage
In the run up to this public consultation, campaigners have recommended a number of alternatives to making the sports hall smaller.
We could:
Improve flooring and lighting
Invest in high quality drop down wall partitions such as this to enable a more multi-functional usage of the space
Introduce a more automated booking system to maximise usage
Invest in advertising and more support from staff
Provide better support to new and emerging sports
Buy new sports equipment and make a more organised use of the storage space.
What can you do?
The best thing you can do is engage in the council’s consultation.
We can keep you updated.
Join our mailing list
Save New Mills Leisure Centre Facilities
Join the campaign to prevent High Peak Borough Council from destroying our squash court and shrinking our sports hall.
- – We’ve assumed that the court will be reduced in length from 33 to 27 metres in length in line with the dimensions of the Glossop Leisure Centre Sports Hall.
– Correct dimensions for each sport were sourced from this Sports England document.
– Some of these sports might not be active yet in New Mills but the proposals would potentially stop them, or other newly popular sports, from ever being available to local people. ↩︎