THOUSANDS of people have signed up to Basildon’s state-of-the-art Sporting Village since its opening.

The £38million centre now has almost 4,000 members while 60,000 people have tried out the facilities since its launch on April 30.

Basildon Council chiefs are delighted with the uptake.

Kevin Blake, councillor responsible for leisure, said: “The figures are obviously very pleasing.

“The Sporting Village is actually being even better used than I expected. I have seen this myself because I go down there regularly to use the gym and pool.”

Of the 4,000 members, 2,500 have joined the gym, while 1,500 are pool members.

Visitors to the Sporting Village in Gloucester Park can also take a pay as you go option.

Despite the high numbers, the 60,000 figure is actually slightly down on the council’s original target for a minimum of 850,000 visits per year – which would work out as just over 70,000 per month.

Some 10,000 visitors checked out the sprawling site, in Gloucester Park, Basildon, during the opening weekend alone, which has a 50m Olympic standard swimming pool, revamped athletics facilities, netball courts, sports hall, fitness centre and climbing wall.

However, ruling Tory councillors hope visitor numbers will rise as word spreads about the impressive facilities.

The centre was jointly developed by Basildon Council, Essex County Council, and business consortium Community Solutions for Leisure. It is now being run on their behalf by Everyone Active.

Greg Barsby, manager of the Sporting Village, said: “Opening the centre has been a fantastic success, and we are proud to be able to offer a great facility for people, who can either pay as they play or become members.

“We at the centre feel as a new facility it is exceeding expectations of what we offer the community as a whole. Uptake has been very successful.

“We are also pleased to still keep our prices the same as with the old Gloucester Park swimming pool.”