Construction work will begin later today (4 November) on a new £5.5m sports and leisure centre in Crowle, Lincolnshire.

Facilities at the Axholme North Sports Centre will boast a health club with a large gym floor and group exercise studio, a four-lane 25m swimming pool with spectator area and changing village.

Outdoor sports facilities will include tennis courts, netball courts, a floodlit artificial grass pitch and a multi use games area for football, hockey and other sports.

To be built next to the Axholme Academy school, the development will be funded, owned and operated by North Lincolnshire Council (NLC).

The facility will be shared by residents in Crowle and pupils at the Axholme Academy.

Councillor John Briggs, cabinet member for commercial enterprise at North Lincolnshire, said:

“This is a major investment for residents of all ages and is for everyone in all the villages across Axholme North.”

Dual-use leisure centres such as the one in Axholme are becoming increasingly popular among local authorities, who are under constant pressure to cut their leisure budgets.

A similar project opened earlier this year in West London, when independent day school Latymer Upper opened a new £14m sports centre which will be used by students and the public..