New plans for Olympic-sized venue

The charitable trust will continue to promote Olympic links, the council said

A £37m sports complex with an Olympic-sized pool is to be run by a charitable trust, saving taxpayers about £400,000 a year, a council says.

Crawley council says the trust, run by operators GLL and Freedom Leisure, will take over the K2 centre in November.

It says the trust will develop K2 for the community and plans to attract more young and presently-inactive people.

Earmarked as a training venue for the 2012 London Olympics, the centre opened in Crawley in November, 2005.

Olympic and Paralympic links will be further promoted, the authority says, as GLL already manages all the leisure centres in each of the five London boroughs which have Olympic competition venues.

Crawley Borough Council will provide more car parking and redesign the reception area.

There have been 1.2 million visitors to K2 in each of the first two full years of operation.