A Leicestershire council has rubber-stamped plans to build a £20m (US$26.6m, €22.5m) leisure centre after admitting its current provision has “become disjointed, inefficient and inflexible”.

The 40-year-old Hermitage Leisure Centre in Coalville will be replaced after councillors decided to begin the search for an operator to design, build, operate and maintain a new leisure centre.

A leisure strategy for the region, The North West Leicestershire 2016-2020 Framework, highlighted a shortfall of approximately 111 fitness stations in the district.

Designed to meet the growing demand, plans for the facility include an eight-court sports hall, eight-lane 25-metre pool, a learner pool with moveable floor, a 150-station fitness suite, multi-activity and spin studios, three squash courts and a café.

“The new, modern and fit-for-purpose leisure centre will address demand issues that we're currently dealing with and will help more people to become active and lead healthy lifestyles,” said councillor Alison Smith MBE, deputy leader and portfolio holder for community services at North West Leicestershire District Council.

“There’s still a lot of work to do before the new provider is found and we're able to start building the new centre, but I'm confident this is the right decision for our district and our leisure service.”

Hermitage Leisure Centre has a 42-station gym and cannot accommodate more than 18 people in its dance studio. The centre’s swim academy membership numbers have grown by over 63 per cent over the past four years and the sports hall only has a capacity of just over 1,100 people, meaning it is unable to hold major events.

To meet demand previously, the council converted a meeting room into a fitness studio, increased the size of the dance studio and reconfigured gym equipment to create space.

The new complex is expected to open in 2020.