Our parks and open spaces

On 17th September 1971 the go ahead was given to build a sports centre in the Whitehall Recreation Ground at a cost of £510,000. In 1973 Dr Roger Bannister, chairman of the Sports Council, officially opened the sports centre known as Ken Marriott Leisure Centre. It closed forty years later, on 31 March 2013. Its replacement, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Centre, opened in summer 2013. By 1979 congestion on Cromwell Road had become so great that a new road was proposed through Whitehall Memorial Gates into the recreation ground to ease the problem. In July 1979 this proposal was defeated. However, in June 1987 the gates were moved a few hundred yards to the centre-front of the Recreation Ground, enabling the new road to be constructed, with completion in November 1987 after 9 weeks of work at the cost of £80,000. Rugby Borough Council is responsible for the maintenance of the adjacent athletics track and the grounds around the leisure centre. The athletics track is the home of Rugby and Northampton Athletics Club. Some locally trained athletes have gone on to represent their country in both the Commonwealth and the Olympic games, such as Judy Simpson, Katherine Merry and Stephen Phillips.