More details of the planned £9.5m renovation and “upgrade” of Putney Leisure Centre appeared this week in the form of a giant poster and new webpage. Members are being asked for their feedback.
The poster, produced by Places Leisure and Wandsworth Council, lists eight separate improvements: a new gym, upgraded studios, a splash pad, refurbished changing rooms, soft play, a new café and reception, and a new health suite. Each gets its own photo and a detailed description.
The gym entry names “EGYM smart strength training” and “enhanced functional training space.” The changing rooms get “almost double the cubicles” and a new Changing Places facility.
The pool gets one sentence. “A refreshed swimming programme,” the poster says, will bring “more opportunity for lane swimmers, lessons and community use.” No lane count. No length. No mention of the controversial plans to cut it from 33-metre to the modern standard 20m.
What the survey asks
The feedback offered is a simple four-question form allowing for open-ended responses.
“What are you most looking forward to about the redevelopment?”; “Is there anything about the centre today that you would like to see improved?”; “Is there anything important to you that you would like us to keep in mind as we plan?”; “Anything else you would like to tell us?”
Notably absent is a floor plan and any mention of the three controversial components so far: the size of the pool; cafe facilities; and relocation of the sauna and steam rooms. Just over a month ago, the centre’s operator Places Leisure unexpectedly announced a plan to cut the pool in two and was met with an immediate, unhappy response. The council – which owns the property but leases it on a long-term contract – put the plan on pause the same day, with Places Leisure and the council giving conflicting accounts of who approved it.
Residents were furious that they hadn’t been consulted on the changes, so this week was an opportunity for Places Leisure to reset the relationship. They didn’t take it. The four questions are open and generic; there’s no opportunity for precise feedback. An FAQ provides some additional detail.
The survey is open now. Residents can also raise the pool directly with Cllr Ethan Brooks, Wandsworth’s Cabinet Member for Environment, at cllr.e.brooks@wandsworth.gov.uk.
The vagueness has a paper trail
Putney.news has been trying to find out the details of the Putney Leisure Centre’s renovation for over a year. This week, we were contacted by the independent Information Commissioner Office (ICO) who asked us if we still wanted to pursue details the council has refused to provide given how long it has been since the request. We said yes.
Among other things, the council fought to keep back Cabinet Paper 25-177A, the report that approved the whole Places Leisure contract, for over six months. A redacted version was finally released last month, after an internal review, following reporting on the confidential annex that had been withheld from the public version of the same paper.
That paper is the document the entire Cabinet saw before approving the contract, on 16 June 2025. Its entry for Putney Leisure Centre is surprisingly sparse and lists “general refurbishment,” a new reception and café, an updated fitness suite, a new studio and health suite. On the pool, it says only: “improvements to pool and pool detection systems.” Nothing on length, or on how many lanes. We are still seeking officer reports, Cabinet briefings, and correspondence between council officers and Places Leisure to find out what the plans actually are and what councillors were told about the plans before approving them.
The same paper shows Places Leisure beat two rival bidders for the ten-year contract with a total score of 90 per cent, against 84.3 and 78.1 for the others, the highest of the three on both quality and price. Most of the financial detail is redacted, including the size of the council’s own capital contribution and the annual management fee. The document does not put a figure on the pool works specifically anywhere in the parts that have been released.
A second, separate freedom of information request is testing whether the council’s public claim of £30m saved on the contract over ten years (repeated in election literature this spring) is actually sourced from this paper. That request has had no substantive response since March.
It would not be the first unconsulted change from this operator. In March, Places Leisure closed the centre’s café, The Kitchen, without warning the tenant, leading to a legal battle that was eventually settled months later with the cafe owner agreeing to leave.
May I suggest Kieran, that you or one of your team, constructs a brief survey of the queries or unidentified issues concerning the Putney Leisure pool. From your good news of the 2000 subscribers and up to 30,000 readers, you might be able to influence the ‘rapidity’ of the Council’s responses to your super-detailed demands for information. I for one would like a justification for spending £9.5M and allowing an external organisation dictate and execute unexpected changes. Easy to understand the ‘culture’ of the previous council, but we expect better answers despite a change in the leadership of the almost in charge party.
The sign has been placed in a location that many visitors to PLC will never see, including gym users, spin class attendees and other regular centre users.
Limiting the survey to a single sign displaying a QR code unnecessarily restricts participation and calls into question how representative the feedback will be. Many customers will never see the sign and those who do may not have a smartphone or be willing or able to scan a QR code.
If Wandsworth Council & Places Leisure are genuinely committed to obtaining meaningful and representative customer feedback, the survey should also be promoted through the Places Leisure app, emailed directly to members and made available via a web link or paper copy so that all customers have an equal opportunity to participate.