A health and fitness centre is to open in Billericay creating 20 new jobs.

The £1million LA Fitness club in Radford Way will open its new swimming pool, gym, sauna and cafe bar centre this summer.

An estimated 20 staff will be recruited locally. Vacancies include receptionists and fitness instructors.

The 13,000 sq ft development is on the ground floor of an old snooker and indoor bowling centre, opposite the town's railway station.

Complete refurbishment work is already under way by the new owners, the L.A Leisure Group, which runs 16 other health centres nationally with new clubs opening at a rate of one a month.

Fred Turok, managing director, said: "We have had a great deal of demand for a club in Essex and are delighted to have acquired this prime site. We hope it will be the first of many clubs in Essex."

But the boss of Billericay Swimming Pool, Lake Meadows, is concerned about the effect the new competition will have on business.

Diana Freeman-Wright, manager director of DFW Leisure Ltd, said: "I'm not sure how it will affect me until it is up and running.

"They have the backing of a big company and so can afford to operate at a loss."

DFW Leisure lease the Lake Meadow pool from owners Basildon Council, under terms which are currently being renegotiated.

Ms Freeman-Wright said: "I am tied to certain opening hours which are non-profit making. This makes it very difficult for me, though it benefits the people of Billericay."

Billericay councillor Peter Patrick said: "I sincerely hope that the management of the Lake Meadows pool reaches a satisfactory agreement with the council.

"But there is an enormous demand for swimming facilities and we shouldn't see this as unwarranted competition but as the availability of choice."

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