A PROPOSAL for an ice complex for Bexley has taken a major step forward.

Site visits by members of the borough’s Bexley Ice Rink Advisory Group have unveiled a blueprint for the potential rink.

Lee Valley rink in east London is a 56m x 26m site, which is medium-sized. It has been suggested as a model for the Bexley site.

At the latest meeting to discuss the plan,

councillors reviewed the two sites visited, which included a complex at Guildford, Surrey. This has been ruled out as being too big.

After the meeting, member Gill Davis, who is also organiser of the Campaign for Ice Sports in Bexley, said: “I would much rather see a medium ice rink.

“I think we have got to cut our coat according to our cloth. We have now got to find a site in Bexley that can accommodate that.”

The group, which is spearheading moves to develop the leisure complex, is also to obtain the views of residents in a borough-wide questionnaire.

The survey, which would be printed in the Bexley Bulletin and the local press, would ask residents how often they skate and how much they would pay to do so in Bexley.

It is just one of a number of initiatives for the rink, as the feasibility exercise gathers momentum.

By next January, the group plans to invite presentations from ice rink operators, before agreeing draft recommendations. Two further sites will also have been visited, including Chelmsford.