A NEW location for Didcot’s £22m leisure centre could be considered if no deal is struck by the end of the year to buy the land.

Plans for the new centre at North East Didcot, which is to include a 25m eight-lane swimming pool, have been put on hold because South Oxfordshire District Council has not yet been able to buy the land from Reading University.

The centre was originally due to open in 2016, providing an important community facility for residents on the 2,000-homeCroudace estate at North East Didcot.

But building work has not yet started on the land opposite the Ladygrove estate, although Reading University said it expected a formal application for the site to be submitted by developers next month.

SODC leader John Cotton said: “The money for the new leisure centre has been set aside – it’s part of the council’s long-term financial strategy.

“If nothing has shifted by the end of the year we could then consider a new location.

“If we slipped into 2016 and we were no further forward, then there would be a fairly strong clamour to look for another site.”

In 2013 Des Healy, who is now Didcot mayor, launched a campaign to save the town’s existing leisure centre Didcot Wave, in Newlands Avenue, following an SODC proposal for The Wave to close following the opening of the new leisure centre.

He launched a petition to save the Wave, and said: “The Wave is more popular than it ever was. If the new leisure centre is not being built yet it makes it even more important to keep Didcot Wave.”

Town councillor Margaret Davies said a new site was an option but the project needed to be launched to keep pace with housing growth.