Leisure sites in Tameside, Greater Manchester, are set to benefit from a £20m investment to upgrade facilities and boost physical activity in the borough.

The investment from Tameside Council and operator Active Tameside was announced in the borough’s newly-published Blueprint for Sustainability.

Plans include a brand new Tameside Wellness Centre in Denton, a new 25m (82ft) swimming pool at Active Hyde, the redevelopment of Dukinfield into a state-of-the-art health and fitness centre and a play centre at Longdendale.

Meanwhile, Active Ashton will remain with a view to a full refurbishment or a replacement site in 2018.

Chief executive of Active Tameside, Mark Tweedie, said: “We are really happy about the decision and excited about Active Tameside’s future as well as the future for our community.

“Getting more water space in this time of cuts is almost unheard of and will give more opportunity for activity and for swimming lessons. On top of this we have amazing new fitness facilities to look forward to as well as refurbishment and redevelopment of some of our more outdated sites.”

The new Tameside Wellness centre will have a swimming pool with spectator area as well as a learner’s pool, a 60-station gym suite, thermal suite, soft play, multi-sensory suite, a café and space for community groups.

It will also have consulting rooms giving better facilities to the Live Active Team and their clients. Live Active was launched last year and supports people with long-term conditions into activity.

Active Dukinfield will have a large fitness suite with 200-stations, soft play, crèche and a café. Active Tameside is yet to decide who will supply the new fitness equipment across its sites.

“We have carefully studied the comments we received during the consultation period and we have responded with a £20 million investment that will provide first-class accessible facilities,” said Cllr Kieran Quinn, executive leader of Tameside Council.

“Within the next few years we’ll have greatly expanded the number of top-quality sports facilities in Tameside. By doing so we’ll be giving residents every chance to get active and improve their health.”