Discussions over concerns that a new well-being centre being created in Lampeter will leave some sports clubs ‘homeless’ over changes to indoor courts have reached an “impasse situation”, councillors have heard.

Lampeter county councillor Hag Harris said this week that discussions with a local netball club and officers working on the new centre, taking over the previous leisure centre site, highlighted that the “aspirations” of organisers and the well-being centre “cannot be satisfied.”

A petition against the changes, which would mean that the leisure centre will no longer have a full size, indoor netball court, basketball court, five a side football pitch, volleyball court - and will also see a reduction in the number of badminton courts - has attracted more than 600 signatures.

An update on the plans was brought to a meeting of healthier communities overview and scrutiny last month and Cllr Harris reiterated his concerns at a meeting on Wednesday, 20 October.

Cllr Harris, who said he was usually of a “sunny disposition” when it came to council matters said he was “finding it very hard to see a way out of this now,” adding the reduction in sports hall court size had not been known about early in the planning stage.

The smaller size meant full netball matches and other team sports could not be held inside the centre, he said.

“We hope that things will work out and discussion will get things worked out, but we are getting to an impasse situation unless some compromise is reached,” Cllr Harris said.

Committee chairman Cllr Bryan Davies said communications continued, adding “it’s really important that we do keep speaking until the very end.”

Last month councillors hit out at a “lack of communication” around the plans for the well-being centre, the first to be developed in Ceredigion.

Cllr Harris said that the plans mean “we are going to finish up with a sports hall that isn’t big enough.”

A cabinet decision was taken in December 2020 for Lampeter Leisure Centre to become the first well-being centre after the pandemic delayed plans and ruled out other sites such as Plascrug in Aberystwyth which was repurposed as a Covid hospital.

Councillors said that the “cart is in front of the horse” and despite officer discussions more communication with the public and local users should have been had.

Carwyn Young of Ceredigion council said there would be further public consultation, and there was outdoor provision for full size netball courts, as well as a hall available at Lampeter University, with matches traditional held in Aberaeron.

He told committee members last month that he was “confident we can provide these activities within the new provision” and that the centre will be an “enhancement of provision.”

Ceredigion council said that a “significant amount of work and investment is to be made at the leisure centre which will improve the facility and the resources for years to come.”