A £14.6million scheme to create two new modern leisure complexes in Slough and Langley got the go-ahead on Monday – despite concerns raised about the length of time the work was expected to take.

It will see the old Salt Hill Park Ten Pin leisure facility in Slough recreated from scratch into an ‘extreme activity centre’ offering a soft play area, trampolining zone, games area and high wire climbing zone among other things. Ten pin lovers will still be catered for with a four-lane version.

Work will start in June, 2017 with a planned reopening in March, 2018.

Meanwhile, Langley Leisure Centre – now nearly 20 years old – is to undergo a refurbishment including better ventilation, repairs to the main pool, new design and an extension to the current gym – doubling its capacity with two new, larger studios.

That will also start in June and is expected to take until September, 2018.

Cabinet members on Slough Borough Council gave their approval to the expenditure when they met.

But Cllr Ted Plenty (Labour: Langley St Mary’s) was concerned, saying: “This is going to take 65 weeks when the whole place only took 30 weeks to build. I don’t see why refurbishing somewhere should take twice as long as it took to build from scratch.

“People are going to go elsewhere for that period time you run a huge risk that they will find they will prefer it there.”

Cllr James Swindlehurst (Labour: Cippenham Green) expressed concern about the £7million being spent on Salt Hill, saying: “More than 50 per cent of what is offered has nothing to do with exercise – it is games, slot car racing, a cafe.”

Architect Mark Gowdridge from GT3 Architects, told councillors the idea was to encourage teenagers and younger people in and that what was on offer would be flexible and constantly open to change.

Private leisure providers will take responsibility for future maintenance and development and the council believes that in the long run the programme makes financial sense.

Leisure services manager Alison Hibbert said: “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to replace and improve the town’s leisure facilities and to get Slough’s residents more active more often.”