Groundbreaking ceremony for new Leighton Buzzard leisure centre will take place in February

Leighton Leisure and Community Centre is scheduled to open in the summer of 2026 in the east of the town and will replace Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre, according to Central Bedfordshire Council’s website.

This site off Briggington Way is large enough to accommodate significantly improved sports and community facilities, with increased capacity and swimming options for all age groups, said the council.

An update on the development was provided for CBC’s Leighton-Linslade partnership committee (December) by CBC’s senior fundraising and projects officer Kim Owens, who confirmed: “We’re now on site, although it feels like a long time in reaching this stage.

“Our project budget is £33.9m,” she explained. “A contract was signed with construction partner Willmott Dixon in September, and work began in October. We’re forecasting an opening in the summer of 2026. We hope to have a groundbreaking ceremony in February.

“Facilities include an eight-lane 25m pool, a learner pool with moveable floor, a massively expanded gym offering, with 150 stations and free weights area, as well as two squash courts, two multi-use studios, and a meeting and community space for hire by the public.

“There’ll be community changing facilities, and dedicated changing rooms to serve the external pitches. The sports hall and squash courts at Tiddenfoot will continue to be available for community use and can be hired out through Cedars Upper School.

“As for the rest of the leisure centre there, we just don’t know at the moment. When our new centre opens, CBC assets would decide on that.

“On providing a cycleway, we’re still waiting for landscape plans to be provided from the developer north of Clipstone Brook. We’ve had input on the cycle and pedestrian routes around Clipstone Park to link in with the leisure centre, but we’ve not seen the developer’s final proposals.

“I understand a cycle path from Meadway to the brook and the bridge across it is in the highways programme for next year, so that’s good news. But we need to see how that ties in with the developer’s intentions.”

CBC Leighton Linslade North and Leighton-Linslade town councillor Kevin Pughe asked whether the new centre would be built to enable a sports hall to be added in future, once a school is provided on adjoining land.

Head of leisure for CBC Lisa White replied: “There are no plans from a leisure centre perspective, as we don’t know what type of school will be built on the education land next door.

“So it would be speculative for me to say whether that would have a sports hall and what size it would be. It would have to comply with Department for Education regulations, relevant to the size of school constructed.

“If there was a school adjacent, we’d look to work with them to have access to the facilities. But until we know what provision is going there, I can’t predict anything.”