Council confirms negotiations to convert part of Banbury leisure centre into a Covid-19 testing centre

Woodgreen Hall, part of which is set to be turned over to indoor Covid-19 testing

Cherwell District Council has told the Banbury Guardian it has identified the centre as a suitable site for Covid-19 testing. Officers say the council will seek to minimise disruption to the centre’s leisure facilities.

A spokesman said: “Like other local councils up and down the country, we have been asked by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to identify suitable sites for Covid-19 testing and we are currently working on a proposal to use part of Woodgreen Leisure Centre for this.

“The arrangement is currently under consideration by DHSC representatives and has not been confirmed. Should it go ahead, we will look to minimise any impact on the leisure centre facilities.

“As we have done with the pop-up testing unit at our Bodicote House offices, we will always work with government and local public health teams to support testing facilities for our residents.”

The newsroom has heard that the Indoor Bowls club has been told it will not be able to make use of its facility for the rest of this year.

The leisure centre has an indoor bowling hall, a 50 station gym and two fitness studios as well as the outdoor pool, now closed for the winter.

A number of people have complained about having to travel to Oxford car parks, Northampton or Coventry for coronavirus tests. Adapting Woodgreen as an indoor testing centre would make tests much easier for the local population.

The news comes as Covid-19 cases have forced schools to close classes.

New figures for positive Covid-19 cases were released today (Wednesday).

In the seven days to October 20 there were 614 confirmed cases of Covid-19. Cherwell had 138 and is on red alert, as is the entire county. The Cherwell rate is 91.7 cases per 100,000 of the population. It has the highest rate of all four district councils in Oxfordshire Oxford city has the highest number at 236.

The figures show confirmed cases in Cherwell decreased to 116 and Oxfordshire's total decreased to 580. Oxford city's total has also decreased to 184 but is still the highest in the county. The remaining district councils, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire all saw increases at 77, 92 and 111 respectively.