A soft play centre in Norcot which was forced to close due to the Covid-19 pandemic could become a gymnastics club.

Plans have been submitted by Virtue Gymnastics to Reading Borough Council (RBC) to turn the former Krazy Playdays centre on the Norcot Industrial Estate into a home for the Reading-based gymnastics, freestyle and aerobics club.

This is the second attempt in the last year from Virtue Gymnastics to find a permanent home, after previous plans for another site were rejected earlier this year.

READ MORE: Reading's Krazy Playdays closure

Virtue Gymnastics says having a permanent home at the Unit 7, Sterling Way site on the industrial estate would allow it to cater for an extensive waiting list and to expand into a more community-based club.

Reading Chronicle:

Krazy Playdays was forced to close permanently last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the centre announcing in December it would not re-open.

Attempts were made by members of the community to save the play centre, with a Go Fund Me page created in July 2020 aiming to raise the £100,000 needed to save the centre, but no donations were received.

Virtue Gymnastics seek permanent home

Virtue Gymnastics is a long-established gymnastics club in Reading, which offers a wide variety of classes for children aged 1-17.

They offer pre-school gymnastics, freestyle, aerobics and competitive squad sessions in addition to drop-in classes and extra curriculum PE.

The club is affiliated with British Gymnastics and Great Berkshire Active. Currently, they operate classes from three separate venues on weekdays and two different venues on Saturdays.

All of their current lettings are for 39 weeks a year due to current term-time only conditions.

If they were allowed to move into Unit 7, Sterling Way, they say they would ideally be open 50 weeks a year from 9am–10:30pm, seven days per week “to cater for an extensive waiting list and to be able to expand the class timetable into a more community-based club”.

They would employ six-to-eight staff and have around 48 members per hour on site from 4-8pm, with about 24 members per hour at other times of the day.

Second attempt to find home

Previous plans from Virtue Gymnastics to set up a club nearby at an industrial building on 28 Portman Road were refused by the council in April.

READ MORE: Gymnastics and parkour centre plan refused

Reading Chronicle:

RBC officers said the loss of the industrial employment land in a core employment area would be contrary to planning policy.

The policy aims to retain floorspace “for the kinds of employment floorspace our economy needs”.

Planning officers said the plan “does not compliment the area” and the warehouse has not been vacant long enough to justify changing the use.

They also said the amount of car parking spaces proposed would be “some way short” of the council’s standards and what would be required to meet the number of people accessing the site.

The plans had received 41 letters of support and 14 objections from residents and businesses.