A refurbished leisure centre with a new swimming pool and a community space for youth clubs is at the top of the wish list to developers wanting to build in New Malden.

Developers eyeing the Cocks Crescent site will have to put together a "community led" plan if they want to build.

Councillor Mary Clark, co-chairman of the Maldens and Coombe neighbourhood committee, said: "In an ideal world I would like a public hall, a neonatal clinic, a refurbished leisure centre, youth clubs - at the moment there is nothing for the youth in New Malden."

The ideas come off the back of the Cocks Crescent and Surrounding Area development brief that was put out by Kingston Council last month.

But the future of the Malden Centre in Blagdon Road which has a gym, a swimming pool and a cafe remains uncertain after proposals to build homes on top of its two existing floors were unveiled in the draft brief.

But Coun Clark, said: "Development briefs are not really worth the paper they are written on. They are riding on whether the planning permission goes through.

"The Malden Centre does need refurbishing. It could be moved somewhere else on the site. It could be all sorts of things. I would not take too much to heart. At the moment it’s all up in the air."

She added if the right developer came along with the right idea for a leisure facility in the area it would be considered.

But former Liberal Democrat councillor Simon James said: "It seems to put the future of the Malden Centre particularly the swimming pool under threat so I am quite concerned about that."