A multi-purpose hall at the town’s flagship £9million sports village will close for one month for urgent repairs to be carried out on the flooded floor.
The main sports hall at the Shrewsbury Sports Village in Sundorne which opened in April 2006, will shut on Monday, December 1 and will not re-open again to the public until Friday, January 2 for an investigation to be held.
It is not the first time the floor has been affected and the Village has been prone to flooding in the past. It is believed a blocked sewer may be the cause of the recent problem which has overflowed onto the surface of the sports hall floor.
Some clubs which use the facility weekly have been relocated, but others have been forced to close while work is carried out.
A three-metre wide area of flooring will be lifted to see the extent of the damage, with all work expected to be finished by December 24, leaving a two-week gap before it can be used.
More than 1,000 visitors use the facility every week and sports centre bosses have notified customers of the hall’s imminent closure.
Clubs including roller blading, netball, and martial arts regularly use the hall for training and matches.
Tom Perry, assistant manager of the skaters club, said the group had been forced to shut down for the month.
“When I received the news, I thought ‘you’re joking, it’s not even that old’,” he said.
Geoff Trantham, borough council architect, said: “Flooding is the likely cause but we haven’t confirmed that.”
Richard Mann, business support manager at the sports village, said: “We need to carry out remedial repairs and if we leave it to permeate any more then the cost is going to escalate.”
Councillor Jon Tandy said: “It doesn’t surprise me that they’re having problems because it’s always been a wet area of land.”