Covid-19 vaccination centres are to be set up in the former STAR centre on Splott Road and Pentwyn Leisure Centre as part of Cardiff & Vale University Health Board plans to deliver a mass vaccination programme for Cardiff.
The health board will use both Cardiff Council owned venues to administer a vaccine to Cardiff residents over a 12-month period.
No date has yet been set for when vaccinations will begin, but work on preparing the centres will get underway so they are ready to open their doors as soon as they are required. Once up and running, vaccinations will take place seven-days-a-week.
Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Cllr Peter Bradbury said:
“The health board has selected both these venues which it feels have the necessary facilities, and are ideally placed in the city to help it roll out its vaccination programme. Being able to vaccinate as much of the population as possible, as quickly as possible is essential – the quicker and more effectively it can be done, the more lives can be saved, but also the quicker Cardiff can begin to recover fully from the impact of Covid-19.”
The former STAR centre on Splott Road closed in 2016 when the new STAR Hub on Muirton Road opened. The Splott Road facility was leased to the health board in March and is currently being used for Covid-19 testing.
On the conversion of Pentwyn Leisure Centre to a vaccination centre, Cllr Bradbury said:
“Registered centre users will continue to be able to access other Better Cardiff facilities, but we know this will be an inconvenience for residents who use Pentwyn Leisure Centre, which has been closed to the public throughout the pandemic. However, I want to reassure those residents that when this is all over, and the NHS no longer need the building, there will still be a leisure facility in Pentwyn.
“In fact, whilst the building is closed to leisure users to enable the mass vaccination centre, we are looking to see if we can take the opportunity to make some investment to modernise the facility.
“If we can identify some budget, we will work up plans to discuss with the local community but options we’re currently looking at include a larger, upgraded gym area, improvements to the outdoor pitches, and changes to the pool area to make it better for swimming, and for learning to swim.”
Safe, alternative leisure facilities, including the recently refurbished Eastern & Fairwater Leisure Centres, operated by GLL, will be available for local residents to use whilst Pentwyn Leisure Centre is closed.