Top-level talks on pool-axe report (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Top-level talks on pool-axe report

6:20pm Wednesday 8th October 2008 in News By Jo Winrow

The sports report which sparked the launch of the Telegraph & Argus’s Save Our Swimming campaign is to be discussed in detail at a Bradford Council meeting on Friday.

The Council paid Strategic Leisure £10,000 to assess all sports and recreational facilities in the district, but the report, which was revealed in June, was branded “full of holes” by Sports Minister and Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe.

The report advises the Council to consider shutting pools in Bingley, Manningham and Queensbury, as well as the Richard Dunn Sports Centre at Odsal. It concluded there were too many pools but no central facility and no suitable 25m competition pool.

As well as closing the three smaller pools, it advised developing an eight-lane competition pool in the city centre to attract swimmers from a larger catchment area.

The process of deciding how to proceed begins when the Council’s regeneration and economy improvement committee meets at City Hall on Friday. It will hear representations from the consultants, Council officers, Mr Sutcliffe, Sport England and representatives of the Community Sport network.

Councillor Val Slater, who chairs the committee, said: “It is imperative to the future health and well-being of our residents that they are provided with enough facilities that offer a wide range of activities and are of a standard that is fitting for the 21st century.”

The Council’s strategic director for culture, tourism and sport, Jane Glaister, said: “It is a strategic review based on supply and demand looking at the Bradford district’s population.

“Our facilities have to reflect what is needed locally and take into account what can practically be done.

“Some of our buildings are ageing and we need to build facilities that will take the district forward in terms of long-term provision.

“Some will need replacing, while others will need refurbishing.”

More than 2,600 people have signed up to the Save Our Swimming campaign, which calls for the Council to safeguard the future of community swimming pools in the district and to build a new showpiece pool in the city centre.

Councillors have already agreed not to accept the consultants’ findings and a more detailed report is expected to be produced later in the year.