Acacia Sports Hall could open 8am to 10pm, seven days a week, under a new operator on a lease of up to 30 years. Cabinet decides on 29 October.
Dartford Borough Council wants an outside operator to run Acacia Sports Hall for badminton, netball, fitness, youth work and community events, on a lease of up to 30 years.
The Orchard Theatre has used the hall since its own building closed in 2023. That use ends once the theatre is settled back in its refurbished home. The council’s Cabinet is asked on Thursday 29 October to approve a scoping document and an open tender to find the next operator. The plan is in the Cabinet report.
What the council wants from the hall
The scoping document lists the uses it has in mind:
- indoor sport, such as badminton, basketball, indoor cricket, netball and hockey
- fitness, dance and wellbeing classes
- community events, including theatre, music and social gatherings
- a youth hub, with mental health, wellbeing and employment support for young people
- a dementia and age-friendly community facility
It also wants the outdoor area brought back into use. The council says it is overgrown and has room for about two tennis courts.
The indicative opening hours are:
| Area | Hours |
|---|---|
| Indoor hall | 8am to 10pm, seven days a week |
| Outdoor courts, weekdays | 8am to 10pm |
| Outdoor courts, weekends | 9am to 10pm |
The hall would close only on Christmas Day, plus any other days agreed later.
The deal on offer
- A lease of up to 30 years, with a possible break for the operator at around year 15.
- Start-up funding from the council for the first three years, tapering off over that time.
- Community use first. The council says its main aim is a community-focused facility, not the highest short-term rent.
- Affordable prices. The operator would be expected to keep charges “affordable and competitive”.
- Targets. Performance would be reviewed if agreed targets fall below about 80% for two monitoring periods in a row.
The report says the council has had “a great deal of interest” in the hall from single sports, faith groups and youth organisations. Most wanted it for an evening or two a week. A lease to any one of them would shut out the rest, which is why the council wants a single operator to share it out.
Options the council turned down
The report sets out three alternatives, and recommends against each:
- Mothballing it. This would save money now, but the building would deteriorate and cost more later.
- Letting it to a gym or health club only. Possibly the most profitable option, but the council says the need is for community and multi-sport use, and the area already has gyms, including its own Fairfield Leisure Centre.
- Selling it. The hall sits among other council land, including a car park. The council also says that under its deal with the Wellcome Trust, which transferred the Acacia site, the trust would have to agree to any sale and would get a share of the money.
Work needed first
The hall will close for a period between the theatre leaving and a new operator arriving. The council plans:
- a stock condition survey
- a new heating system using air source heat pumps, already in the 2026/27 budget
- a lift and other accessibility work, possibly paid for from the Community Infrastructure Levy
The council says the building, put up in the 1990s, “does not fully meet” current accessibility standards. No new money is being asked for these works in this report.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes yet. The Orchard Theatre’s classes and clubs carry on at the hall until they move back to the theatre. Our What’s On in Dartford page lists what is on there this month.
- If you run a club or group that needs indoor space, the council says the tender will let interested parties bid on their own or together.
- No dates yet. The report does not give a tender timetable or a reopening date. Cabinet would see the proposed lease terms later.
- The Orchard Theatre reopens with its pantomime in December; see our Orchard Theatre story.
We will report Cabinet’s decision on Thursday.
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