Central Bedfordshire Council news and press releases

Dunstable Centre to open 3 June 2019

Wednesday, 8 May 2019

After extensive discussions with our building contractors, we are sorry to advise that the opening of the new £20.1 million Dunstable Centre will be postponed until Monday 3 June.

This is because the builders have not fully completed their building work. This has meant that we have not been able to complete our testing of the building and on-site staff training in time for our planned opening next week.

This has been a difficult decision, but one that we unfortunately cannot avoid. We want to ensure that we open the centre in a way that gives our customers the very best experience from day one, hence we felt we needed to postpone the opening by three weeks to enable these final preparations to be completed.

This is a major construction project worth £20.1 million. Although a redevelopment project of this scale and complexity can often frustratingly fall behind schedule, we are very disappointed that our building contractors have not been able to complete the last elements of the building on time. We ask customers to bear with us whilst we work with the builders to make the final necessary preparations.

Our leisure operator, Stevenage Leisure Ltd (SLL), will be contacting customers who have already signed up for memberships and will ensure that their membership package reflects the new opening date. Updates on Dunstable Centre memberships will be published on SLL's website (link opens in new window).

Library

The new library facilities will also be opening on 3 June. The brand new larger state-of-the-art facilities within the new Dunstable Centre will have the most popular books and services, plus public access computers, flexible space for activities, events and clubs.

In the meantime, library users will be able to access the same library services in Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard. The drop-off point for returned library items at The Grove Theatre will continue. The drop-off point remains open between 10am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, and 10am and 2pm on Saturdays throughout the closure period. Borrowed items have been issued for a longer period than usual so that members will not be charged fines while the library is closed.

Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice (link opens in new window) will continue to offer a telephone service between 10am and 3pm, Monday to Friday, on 01582 661384.