Plans submitted for new community hub in Marple

Stockport Council has submitted a planning application for a new Community Hub in Marple that will include a new library, swimming pool and fitness suite and health clinic.

The hub project is being supported by a £20 million grant from the Capital Levelling Up Fund, with the development also set to include active travel and highways improvements in the Marple area.

If the plans are approved, the new community hub will have a five-lane swimming pool, a ground floor library with a small cafe, a 60-station fitness suite, shared community spaces, and the relocated Marple clinic.

The formal planning submission follows an extensive consultation process to finalise the designs, which will see the Marple’s existing police station, library and a health clinic demolished to make way for the new Community Hub with all of those uses retained on the site. The Library and Clinic will be relocated into the new complex with the Police relocated into Hollins House.

The scheme will also replace the village’s previous swimming pool which closed in 2018 due to health and safety issues with the building.

A consultation was held in Autumn 2023 with more than 750 responses from the community.

Cllr Colin Macalister, Cabinet Member for Economy and Regeneration, said:

“We have listened to what the people of Marple have said and this fantastic new facility reflects what local people have wanted in their area for a long time. I am delighted that we continue to move this forward.

“If planning is granted, this hub is going to make a huge, positive impact on the prosperity, health and wellbeing of the residents of Marple and the borough.”

Contractors, Wilmott Dixon have already been appointed for the construction phase, if approved, and have undertaken a number of site surveys ahead of the planning submission.

A decision on the development is expected in June 2024.