AN Olympic-size swimming pool is among facilities being planned for a new sports centre on the outskirts of Worcester.

Today we exclusively reveal more details of the plans for an impressive Community Sports Hub at Hindlip including a new 50-metre swimming pool, a second cricket ground for Worcestershire, tennis centre, football academy and a specialist sports science centre.

The Hindlip Community Sports Hub will be built if the Government’s plan for 24,500 homes in Worcester, Malvern and Wychavon gets the go-ahead. The housing scheme – part of the South Worcestershire Joint Core Strategy – is about to go out for public consultation with a decision due from the Government next year.

Meanwhile, the organisation behind the sports hub Sir Bert Millichip Sports Limited (SBMS), is pressing ahead with its plans to build the centre on 250 hectares (618 acres) of land north of Worcester, between Fernhill Heath and Pershore Lane. The facilities continued on page 2 will be unrivalled for miles and look set to attract the cream of young athletes to the county and will include: • A Multi Purpose Sports Arena, with facilities for basketball, volleyball, handball and badminton, which will be larger than any in the West Midlands.

• A 50m Olympic swimming pool for competitive swimming clubs, casual swimmers and learners, with the nearest similar pools located in Coventry and Bath.

• Specialist facility for gymnastics and martial arts including judo and taekwondo. The only other facility of this type is in Birmingham.

• All-year-round tennis centre which could become a satellite tournament venue for the Lawn Tennis Association.

• A secondary cricket ground for Worcestershire County Cricket Club with a pavilion and an indoor cricket school. The ground would also be used by the Worcestershire County Cricket Board and the English Cricket Board.

• New football pitches and a Sir Bobby Robson Football Academy.

• An educational and medical campus for the Worcester Sports Academy, part of the Worcester College of Technology, offering specialist sports science, psychology, nutrition, injury prevention/rehabilitation facilities, and fitness and obesity clinic.

• A regional golf teaching academy and 18-hole championship golf course open to all is also planned at the Hindlip Hall headquarters of West Mercia Constabulary, adjacent to the sports hub.

A public consultation on the hub is planned to start within two months with the hope that it can be built by 2011.

Peter Millichip, SBMS chief executive, said: “The Hindlip proposals would bring world-class sports facilities to Worcestershire.”

“The Community Sports Hub would bring a range of new sports facilities for local residents.”

He added: “Hindlip is an ideal location for the community sports hub.”

Also included in the spatial strategy proposals for the area are a new relief road off the A38, a railway halt and bus transport interchange at Fernhill Heath, homes, a primary school, shops and community facilities.