“FANTASTIC” and “exciting” plans to build a new ice rink in Bracknell have finally been given the go-ahead.
Ozone Ice Rink will be allowed to set up at The Western Centre following planning permission from the council.
Plans emerged in August 2020 following the closure of the John Nike ice rink and ski slope just a month earlier.
The proposals were finally given the green light after more than 300 residents and ice-skating enthusiasts sent in their support for the designs.
READ MORE: New ice rink planned for Bracknell Forest
Ozone Ice Rink, set up by a former Bracknell Bees player and his business partner, will measure 17m x 34m and will be flanked by three changing rooms, a storage space, players benches, men and women’s showers and toilets, a coaches room, a skate hire section, offices and a reception area.
On the first floor, there is planned to be a bar and viewing area, more changing rooms and showers, and another training space.
The new sports facility “is not intended to be a like-for-like replacement” for the closed John Nike ice rink according to Ozone bosses.
READ MORE: Designs for new ice rink in Bracknell revealed
There will be no ‘walk-in’ services but it will be available for ice sports training, as well as for pre-booked lessons for schools and the general public.
Ozone received unanimous backing from councillors who commended the idea.
Councillor Ankhur Bhandari said: “I think it’s fantastic we’ve got the option of such a facility coming to the town.
“We’ve recently lost a similar facility and I think coming out of the current environment we need as many options as possible to make Bracknell as exciting as possible.
“A facility like this can only help our town.”
READ MORE: John Nike site closes down permanently
Councillor Patricia Brown added: “It is very exciting and very close to our town centre so I’m very pleased to see it.”
Fellow planning committee member Michael Gbadebo commented: “[This] is re-using and occupying a space that already exists, making good use of that something that [would] probably lie empty for a while.”
All planning committee members voted in favour of the plans at a meeting on Thursday, January 21.
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