OPPOSING councillors came face to face yesterday over plans to build a new leisure centre in Harrow.

Several Conservative councillors showed up at a meeting arranged by the local Labour Party to launch its campaign against the redevelopment of Harrow Leisure Centre, in Christchurch Avenue.

Councillor Navin Shah, who led the meeting, said the Tories' plans for a new centre are half the size of the existing facilities and include less space for some sports, including squash, badminton, swimming, and table tennis.

He said: "The plans are fundamentally flawed, and belong to the dustbin.

"Given the scale of the changes required, how poor the proposal is, and that no one was consulted, it really is a case of back to the drawing board."

The Conservatives released their plans to build a new £36m leisure centre on the Byron Recreational Ground site, at the end of last year.

But the proposals have been heavily criticised over a reduction in sports facilities and parking spaces.

The council has also been accused of not consulting residents and users fully.

Councillor David Ashton, portfolio holder for finance, attended the meeting on Sunday to defend the plans.

He said: "Its always valuable and useful to meet with members of the community to hear what their concerns are.

"We won't be able to provide everything for everybody, but we want to have the majority of people very satisfied with what we offer."

Representatives from a number of sports clubs who use the centre attended the meeting to voice their concerns.

After a number of complaints from residents and sports clubs, the council has revised its plans, including increasing squash courts from two to four in the plans.

Tony Morrison, head of Harrow Squash Club and a member of the Harrow Sports Council, said he is angry at the council's behaviour.

He said: "Its appalling, they have put the cart before the horse.

"They have seen the responses to the proposals and the anger, with people trying to protect their sports club.

"Now they are going through consultation and its not the right way to do this.

"They have actually flared up a lot of anger within the community."