Entertainment Swindon

With the planning application by Seven Capital, the developers responsible for the proposed residential area surrounding the iconic Oasis along with how the final look of the Oasis will be which will likely not include the much disputed Oasis Sports Hall is now not far off from being submitted.

Save Oasis Swindon Campaign have been fighting relentlessly for saving the Oasis in its entirety, including saving the sports hall. Speaking to the Save The Oasis Swindon founder Neil Robinson about the likely loss of the hall, his response was “It’s a leisure complex, not just a pool and can’t be classed as a ‘Leisure Centre’ if it’s simply a pool with a gym”.

The Council and in particular the leader of the Labour led Swindon Borough Council have refused to show their findings and so called proof that the Oasis sports hall as not financially viable. Entertainment Swindon and our parent company MB Media Global have directly asked for answers from SBC and to the leader himself with a refusal to answer leaving the intentions of the Jim Robbins led SBC clear as mud.

Sign the petition to save the Oasis Sports Hall, click HERE.

The SBC claims are that the sports hall is not financially viable, which goes against all industry experts and leaders views on the matter. Speaking to leading industry magazines Workout Magazine & Leisure Management expert contributors, they all stated that leisure centres viability relies on dryside facilities to support the often non-viable poolside facilities.

A pool such as the Oasis being a large lagoon pool within a huge dome structure, along with a wave machine has huge costs to upkeep, not only the maintenance, but the heating costs of keeping a tropical environment under the dome is far more costly than a traditional 25m lane pool such as at the Link Centre. To make the Oasis viable, the venue needs a viable multi-use dryside facility, including a sports hall.

The plans put out to the public domain so far by the SBC show an Oasis with no sports hall, a gym considerably smaller than the one before the Oasis closed and a small bowling alley.

Sign the petition to save the Oasis Sports Hall, click HERE.

Jim Robbins, leader of the Labour led council has publicly made claims on social media such as the iconic dome, pool, slides and wave machine will stay along with having a gym, cafe, outdoor pitches and potentially a bowling alley, having worked with external consultants to gain advice on what to include, which does not include the sports hall which the Labour Party councillors are adamantly against being included. When asked for information on the expert consultants, who they are and exactly what they have suggested, Cllr Robbins has refused to give any information leaving concerns that there has not even been an external consultation.

Cllr Robbins has also made public that he had meeting about the plans to someone unconnected with the deal with Seven Capitol, stating “he was really impressed, saying he couldn’t believe that the Council had negotiated the refund at no upfront cost to the taxpayer.”

Swindon today has numerous private budget gyms with industry leading equipment and layouts, not only including the state of the art cardio equipment and machine weights as well as the hugely popular large CrossFit style equipment which the planned Oasis gym will not be able to cater for. The Oasis gym membership based on previous membership fees will make membership much more costly to prospective members than for example members pay at the likes of JD Gym near Transfer Bridge.

Sign the petition to save the Oasis Sports Hall, click HERE.

The proposed idea of a small bowling alley has no pulling power to get people through the doors of the Oasis, Swindon already has a large bowling alley facility at Shaw Ridge with bar, restaurant, arcade, karaoke facilities as well as other surrounding leisure facilities for a fun day out in the Shaw Ridge Leisure Park making the planned Oasis bowling alley financially non-viable. As well as the Shaw Ridge bowling alley, another mega bowling alley complex will soon open at the Greenbridge Retail Park, leaving even less of a need for a small bowling alley within the Oasis.

In a social media post Jim Robbins commented “I’m not interested in recreating 1970s Swindon.” But speaking to supporters of Save Oasis Swindon, thats not what they are asking for. The supporter named Craig told Entertainment Swindon “What a joke! Suggesting the campaign is stuck in the 70s to cover the fact he has greenlit the reduction of facilities in an already over populated town”. Craig went on to say “The Oasis should have a sports hall, not only on the grounds of financial sustainability and the future lifespan of the centre. But primarily for the reason Sport England object to the halls removal, that Swindon is already under served in the leisure sector for a town of its size, particularly indoor sports facilities and the loss of those at the Oasis would be unacceptable”.

Also in response to Cllr Robbins comments accusing the Save Oasis Swindon group as nostalgic and stuck in the 70s, the action groups founder Neil Robinson said “There’s nothing 1970s about residents wanting their famous leisure centre back to a financially viable state and to offer indoor sporting facilities that Swindon is desperately in need of.” Mr Robinson went on to say “There needs to be a multi-purpose hall to sustain the dryside to not only offer sports clubs that are missing out on being able to train and compete in a home venue with the Oasis out of action and the Link Centre loosing their sports hall to a trampolining arena, leaving just two sports halls to cover the whole of Swindon with a population of over 230,000 people. There is also the need to be able to host sporting and entertainment events from boxing to live music. It’s not just a lack of sports halls in Swindon, we just don’t have enough sporting facilities that a town our size should have”.

Sign the petition to save the Oasis Sports Hall, click HERE.

The Oasis sports hall is actually the largest multi-purpose sports halls in the whole of Wiltshire, something that you think the council would be proud of and aiming to utilise, especially in a year of so much international sporting events this summer. Besides the likes of annual sporting events like Wimbledon and the Tour de France, there is currently the Euro, the Paris Olympics and the Summer X Games to name just a few across the summer. A town the size of Swindon you would think would produce regular top performing athletes and sports people, but with a town that has steadily been left to go down hill under the Swindon Borough Council, first under the Tories, but in just over a year of taking leadership of the towns purse strings has got even worse with no signs of getting better. You have to go all the way back to the Rio Olympics in 2016 to find a Swindon athlete that competed at the top of their sport on the international stage with Jazz Carlin who won two silver medals. If Swindon is to ever produce top level athletes and sports people on the international stage, then Swindon Borough Council need to invest and restore pride in the town.

The Oasis has the support from Conservative SBC Councillors, Sport England and many current & past Leisure Centre managers who all state that opening the Oasis without a sports hall is setting the Oasis up for failure leading to the question, is the Jim Robbins Labour led SBC really wanting the Oasis to stay open? Or are they wanting the Oasis to fail leading to a potential application to overturn the Oasis ‘Heritage’ status so it can be demolished by Seven Capital so they can build more houses making the SBC more money?

With Jim Robbins and Labour led SBC refusing to answer direct questions on their claims of evidence that goes against all industry experts we have spoken to, we can only come to the answer that the Jim Robbins led SBC have no such expert evidence and want the Oasis re-opening to fail.

The Save Oasis Swindon petition at the writing of this article has now reached 1600 signatures to save the sports hall… The save Oasis campaign call for the people of Swindon to sign and save the longevity of the Oasis. To help save the Oasis sports hall, click HERE to sign the petition.

We continue to ask Jim Robbins and the Labour led Swindon Borough Council for answers.