CAMPAIGNERS are set to protest tonight against plans for a replacement £25m leisure centre in a riverside park.

Council chiefs have revealed a scheme to build an 8,000 sq m complex at River Park in Winchester – almost double the size of the existing facility – with a bigger gym, more swimming pool space and a larger 12-court sports hall.

But it would mean the loss of a cricket pitch and green open space currently used for football, Frisbee, picnics and dog walking. Some trees may also be axed.

Now a newly-formed Save The Park protest group has hit out, accusing the council of “ripping out the heart and soul of one of Winchester’s treasured open spaces”.

Members are planning to protest outside a meeting at 7.30pm tonight at Winchester Guildhall, where council chiefs are set to outline their plans to an invited audience.

The group’s Hazel Agombar – who is also a founder member of Winchester Friends of the Earth – said: “It is a lovely open space that is already well used by the local community, so to build over it and make it somewhere people have to pay for formal exercise seems ludicrous.”

Council chiefs insist that no final decisions have been made, but they have already approved spending £100,000 on technical reports.