The Leisure Centre
The new Chard Leisure Centre boasts a five-lane adult swimming pool, a beginner’s pool, cafe, children’s soft play area and gym with additional studios.
We were excited to see the centre open its doors to the public on Monday 8 November 2021.
To celebrate the occasion, Commonwealth gold medallist, Matthew Clay, returned to Chard and joined his former swimming club, Trident Swimming Club, for the first pool swim.
Take a look through the gallery to see the amazing facilities available and how they came to be.
You can also view our video diary of the opening day for more information on the event, including the official ribbon cutting ceremony, the tour of the centre and the first 50m pool race!
For information on opening times, bookings and class timetables, please visit Freedom Leisure Chard.
The Project
Throughout the whole of the pre-application stage, public consultation was at the heart of the process with public feedback setting the direction of where Chard Regeneration went.
The plans began with these initial proposals. They were displayed to hundreds of residents at an event in Chard on Saturday 16 June 2018, attended by hundreds of residents. We had a fantastic response with hundreds of letters, comments and emails.
The consultation ended in September 2018 following a number of further events and from this, we gained a firm understanding of what residents wanted for the town.
On Saturday 16 March 2019, a second event was held in Chard which was attended by more than 500 people.
