A report by Sport Cheshire has backed Sir Steve Redgrave’s vision for a gym and research facilities in Chester but Labour is now questioning the organisation’s objectivity.

Sir Steve aims to set up his Sport Institute in the city but it is controversial being in the green belt next to Bell Developments’ 2,300-bed student village.

Labour says it is ‘hardly surprising’ Sport Cheshire supports the Institute given it was paid to carry out the work.

The Redgrave Institute would include a state-of-the-art gym, performance suite and sports injury clinic together with lecture areas, research labs and consulting rooms.

Sport Cheshire concludes “the vision for the Redgrave Institute and its aims and aspirations can contribute directly towards a number of local and national strategic objectives”.

Welcoming the report, Sir Steve said: “We have always maintained that an engagement in sport is the way to a healthier society.

“When you see the cost to the NHS and Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC) of those who don’t or are not able to take part in sport currently, it makes you realise just how important it is that we connect our schools and communities with the opportunity and ability to engage in some form of sporting, leisure activity.”

But Blacon Labour Cllr Carolyn Graham hit back: “It's hardly surprising Sport Cheshire is so supportive of the Steve Redgrave Institute when you consider that the developers for the Student Village actually commissioned this report.

“What is even more worrying is that the council has also commissioned Sports Cheshire to undertake a separate report on facilities in Cheshire West and Chester.

“How Sports Cheshire can be seen as a neutral party in this, given their clear conflict of interest with the developers, is quite beyond me.”

She said the gym membership costs were ‘clearly prohibitive’ for a large number of residents and ‘would do nothing to help the people who need these types of facilities most’.

Anne Boyd, chief executive of Sport Cheshire, said her organisation was impartial and employed an evidence-led approach.

She said: “The evidence demonstrates a need for additional facilities within the Chester area. The Strategic Needs Assessment report produced is based on the proposed site in Mollington but it does not endorse this as a development site.

“It looks at the local demographics in relation to the site and determines that there is demand for additional facilities within the catchment areas of the site.”

The planning application for the student village and Redgrave Institute is likely to be decided at the September 19 strategic planning committee.