A long-awaited splash park could be coming to St Neots as soon as next year if St Neots Town Council (SNTC) agree to provide the project with a £650,000 grant.
St Neots councillors attended an open meeting at The Priory Centre on July 13 to ask questions and "inform their thinking" ahead of making a potential decision later this month.
A planning application to build the splash park on Huntingdon Road at the site of the town's former swimming pool, which also includes permission to build a toilet block and cafe/kiosk, has already been approved by Huntingdonshire District Council.
Mick Marks, chairman of the St Neots Aquatic and Leisure (CIO), said the building work can commence as soon as the money is granted.
Following the meeting, Mr Marks told The Hunts Post: "I hope I got across the passion for it. Business-wise, it's a no-brainer.
"We've got planning permission in place, we've got the tenders done, we're ready to issue a contract to build, and the design has been finalised. All I need is the money from the town council that they promised six years ago.
"I just need the money, there is nothing else. We just need to prove to the people of St Neots that it's a viable project."
READ MORE: St Neots Town Council vote in support of splash park planning application
The splash park's finances and figures will now be presented to the finance and governance committee of SNTC on Tuesday (July 18) before going to a full council meeting on July 25, "where a decision will be made".
Where will the money come from?
It was reported in July last year that SNTC has more than £1 million in Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payments due to new housing developments being built in the area.
The council can decide to distribute the funds to any number of projects as long as it is for the "provision, improvement, replacement, operation or maintenance of infrastructure or anything else that addresses the demands that development places on the area."
Mayor of St Neots and co-chair at the meeting, Cllr Rob Simonis, confirmed that money is available, but SNTC needs "ongoing certainty" that this is a long-term viable project.
Cllr Simonis said: "It was a productive evening with some very astute questions.
READ MORE: Is a splash park finally coming to town? Public meeting to discuss project
"The purpose of this evening was to inform councillors' thinking so that when councillors come to make this decision, they have really tested all of the avenues to come up with a thought-out considered decision at the end of it."
What was said at the meeting?
At the meeting, Mr Marks outlined the design proposal for a self-funding splash park which will include 50 different water features and items covering the 300-metre squared land by Priory Park.
In a three-phase plan, first, the splash park will be built, and income from the site will be utilised to build a café and other facilities in the coming years.
Eat N Bowl will manage the site and allow the use of its 49-car parking spaces.
Using the splash park would cost £3 for a two-hour session, with only the child charged and not the adults.
Members of the public also attended the meeting and raised their concerns about various parts of the plan, including parking, vandalism, entrance fee and the option of a swimming pool.
Mr Marks was quick to explain that a swimming pool would cost millions to build and that the energy costs would mean the site would run at a loss, whereas the splash park would recycle water and use solar energy.
However, Mr Marks stressed that the land would be protected to ensure that one could be built if money ever became available for a swimming pool.
Mr Marks added: "I don’t see any other projects that are ready to go, and if they [SNTC] don’t spend it on us, they are going to lose the money because the five years for the CIL money will be up.
"We are acting like a little town, it's time to start acting like a big one.”
To learn more about the splash park, visit: www.stneotsaq.org.
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