Who would pay for a Nailsea swimming pool
By Carol_Deacon | Monday, October 26, 2009, 09:31
KEEN swimmer Matthew Mulvenna asked councillors if a swimming pool for Nailsea is a dead duck.
Mr Mulvenna spoke during the public participation part of a Nailsea Town Council meeting this month.
He said it was a ‘need’ not a ‘want’ for the youngest to oldest inhabitants of the town and wondered if North Somerset Council had sunk the idea.
Mr Mulvenna said: “At the moment it appears to have been shelved.”
Chairman Mary Ponsonby said: “It is our aim and it is on our wishlist but financially it has to be funded by the district council.
Cllr Clare Hunt said: “There are North Somerset councillors who don’t want a swimming pool – you only have to read what Cllr Jeremy Blatchford posted on the Nailsea People website.”
And she asked: "Where is the necessary provision for youngsters to develop their swimming skills and where can the over 60s go for the free swimming that North Somerset Council.”
Cllr Blatchford commented on Nailsea People: “Swimming pools are a nightmare problem because most of them lose money hand over fist.”
He said the running costs of employing lifeguards and water purity are prohibitive.
Cllr Blatchford added: “If a pool were built in Nailsea it would cost £3million minimum, the loan costs alone are about £300k per with another perhaps £200k subsidy to run it.
“No one is going to build a pool in Nailsea and keep Backwell open.”
A district council report last year said Backwell Swimming Pool is dated, below the standard of pools elsewhere in North Somerset and requires regular maintenance and repair works.
Cllr Jan Barber said: “I think North Somerset Council is throwing good money after to bad at Backwell and the ideal site for a new swimming pool is at Scotch Horn Centre in Nailsea.”
Cllr Blatchford told Nailsea Town Council that accountants Price Waterhouse had warned North Somerset Council which was the number one unitary authority in the country for efficient financial spending to expect cuts in its budget of between 25-30 per cent.
“Central government may fund free swimming lessons but they do not fund new swimming pools,” he added.
The proposed new town at Long Ashton will come with a new leisure centre funded by the developers, he told those present.
Comments
The Government has set aside £140 million to provide, among other things, free swimming for the over 60s in publicly owned swimming pools in England and free lessons for adults who can't swim.
So what's going on? Why is there a dated pool in the small village of Backwell, and yet in Nailsea, which is much larger, there are no swimming facilities? Can't someone at North Somerset Council apply for some of this Government money to build a new pool at Nailsea and close the Backwell one? Some of this cash has already been allocated to improve swimming pools in other areas.
By delilahc at 10:55 on 27/10/09
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