THE long, drawn-out saga of the Five Acres site would be transformed by a successful bid to the government’s Levelling Up Fund (LUF).

The former home of a Gloucestershire College campus and Coleford Leisure Centre is earmarked to become a “destination” leisure and sport facility with additional education and community elements as part of the bid to the LUF.

The Forest Council agreed in 2018 to acquire the site after the college moved to Cinderford but there have been discussions about its future have been active since 2013 with local people in Berry Hill adamant that they wanted a community facility there.

The council is looking to finally take ownership of the site from Homes England in the summer with demolition of the leisure centre and most of the college building starting in the autumn.

The project would be funded by £9 million from the Levelling Up Fund and £1.6 million match funding from the council. It would be expected to create 35 new jobs.

Wendy Jackson, the council’s regeneration officer, said: “We want to acquire and develop the Five Acres site from Homes England to provide a destination leisure and community facility which is going to provide for local people and attract visitors. 

“Our ambition is to acquire the site this summer and to redevelop the Five Acres site to provide what we are calling a new eco resort in the Forest of Dean. 

“The leisure facility will create new jobs and will include a mix of traditional and modern flexible sport and leisure uses which could include digital leisure uses. 

“We’ll be designing flexible space which can be adapted and re-purposed as and when leisure and culture trends change to ensure we have a sustainable commercial development with indoor and outdoor provision. 

“In line with national and local net zero targets and our locally declared climate emergency the council will be looking at the integration of low-carbon technology, materials, construction and eco-friendly work practices. 

“The council is intending to co-invest with Hartpury University and West Dean Parish Council to optimise development of available land and building to create a suite of jointly marketed,income generating assets to support eco0nomic growth in this area. 

“We’ll have a phased programme of site development starting this year running through to about 2030 by the time the site is fully developed. 

“The pre-development phase starts this year. We’re looking to acquire the site this summer and conduct a small amount of tree clearance and progress with demolition and site clearance which we will be looking to start and run through from  September to December. 

The application for demolition has been submitted so we are twin tracking that process alongside the LUF work and we’ll be looking to identify suppliers to help with that task over the summer. 

“The first phase of building will start in 2022.”

She said technical investigations had shown the bulk of the buildings were beyond their useful life but the former Speedwell building will be “re-purposed” and dubbed The Curve.

The Curve building will be repurposed and we will provide a three-storey leisure and community hub space. 

“We will be looking to have something like a ground floor gym and dance exercise studio and on the first floor a suite of community rooms and co-working individual office spaces that will be available for let. 

“On the top floor we are looking to have space for Hartpury’s outreach teaching facility. 

“We are bringing in Hartpury staff to offer a new educational offer in the centre of the Forest of Dean that will specialise in sports and business 

“The building will also include a café at ground floor and reception to welcome people. 

“It will be fully accessible and we are future-proofing the designs to factor in our aging society and older users in the Forest 

“Adjacent to The Curve we will have a new-build sports hall providing four new courts and outside, on the West Dean parish council land, we are looking to provide a new 3G artificial sports pitch.

“We are looking at a hi-tech green solution by collaborating with Hartpury to see if we can come up with some really eco-friendly surface material that will help with our environmental credentials.”

The second phase will start in 2023 or 2024 with the development of visitor accommodation with an eye to the “muddy boots” visitor and visiting sports teams.

Ms Jackson said: “We are thinking of the niche market, the active leisure visitor who come for cycling, walking and running.

The council is also looking at development after the LUF programme ends in 2024 with around a third of the site earmarked for development up to 2030..

“We are looking to attract complementary or enabling development that will tailor in with the investment we have planned. 

“We have been looking to attract healthy artisan food outlets, beauty therapy uses but some commercial element to complement the visitor accommodation and the sports, leisure and education components on the site.”