Senior Ceredigion councillors are expected to approve Cardigan’s Memorial Pool and Fairfield Car Park site as the preferred site for the Wellbeing Centre development at a meeting taking place next week.

Ceredigion County Council’s Cabinet, meeting on October 1, is to discuss a preferred site for the development in Cardigan from an initial shortlist of four, reduced down to two.

And it is expected that the Memorial Pool, which closed earlier this year to the anguish of the local community, will be selected as the location of the centre.

A report for members states: “On December 5, 2022, Cabinet agreed that the location of the county’s second Wellbeing Centre would be in Cardigan servicing the south of the county.  Permission was given to officers to undertake an options appraisal to identify potential locations for the Wellbeing Centre (WBC2) and the facilities required to deliver the proposed services,” with funding secured for a feasibility study.

An online survey was undertaken as the first stage of the public engagement exercise and 377 responses were received, the report says.

The feasibility study was asked to consider four potential sites for the Wellbeing Centre: Fairfield Car Park, Cardigan Memorial Pool and Hall, Teifi Leisure Centre, and Dolwerdd Fields, with the options later boiled down to Cardigan Memorial Pool / Fairfield Car Park and Teifi Leisure Centre.

For the Cardigan Memorial Pool / Fairfield Car Park site a new build is recommended over a refurbishment of the existing facility, the report says.

The report says the Cardigan Memorial Pool / Fairfield Car Park site “is the site nearest to the current location of the town’s library and the council’s direct customer contact provision in the town and it is proposed to encompass these services within the Wellbeing Centre development”.

It adds: “Accessibility was a key aspect of both the public and stakeholder engagement. In this respect Cardigan Memorial Pool / Fairfield Car Park is quoted in the report as ‘Prominent town centre location. Highly accessible with public transport available in town centre location’ whilst the Teifi Leisure Centre site is quoted in the report as ‘poor and tortuous access route onto and through the adjacent school and college’.

“Therefore, officers preferred option is a new build development on the Cardigan Memorial Pool / Fairfield Car Park site and this is the recommendation to Cabinet.”

Cabinet is recommended to approve the Cardigan Memorial Pool / Fairfield Car Park site as the preferred site for the Wellbeing Centre development, along with a new build development as the preferred option.

Once a preferred site is agreed for the Wellbeing Centre, a business case model will be needed, along with further assessment of the preferred site in respect of parking, transport and planning, and a public consultation on the proposed design.

Further engagement with Hywel Dda University Health Board will take place during the business plan development to confirm the services they would be interested in delivering from the Wellbeing Centre and the facilities required to accommodate them, the report says.