Solar panels to be installed on roof of The Meres Leisure Centre, Grantham

More than 500 solar panels will be installed on a leisure centre roof.

South Kesteven District Council applied to put the panels on The Meres Leisure Centre in Trent Road, Grantham.

Initial plans had proved controversial because they named Canadian Solar as the proposed supplier of the panels.

Concerns held about this company by Stamford and Rutland MP Alicia Kearns (Con) were shared with leader of South Kesteven District Council Ashley Baxter (Ind) and it was decided by the council to switch solar panel suppliers for the project.

Approval for the project was granted by South Kesteven District Council’s elected members at a planning committee meeting today (Thursday, October 3).

A report associated with the application said the centre’s annual heating bill is £199,125. With solar panels, this could come down by more than a quarter, bringing the annual bill down to £146,614.

For the solar panels' predicted lifetime, this could save the council £1,336,995.

No representations from the public were made at the meeting and councillors were unanimous in their support for the installation of panels, which will be in three sets on the leisure centre’s roof.

The council’s leisure centres in Drift Road, Stamford, and Queen’s Road, Bourne, were not first in the queue for solar panels because the energy savings were worked out to be higher at Grantham.

Deepings Leisure Centre was closed by the council in August 2021 after the roof leaked. It remains shut.