Pool plan is chance to think big (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Pool plan is chance to think big

8:33am Thursday 6th November 2008 in Search

Bradford needs good swimming facilities for its growing population in the sort of places where people can easily access them. That’s something this newspaper has been campaigning hard for.

It is now possible to look ahead with a degree of guarded optimism following the decision to provide free swimming for the under-16s and over-60s. This step has brought with it access to a possible share of a Government £50million Capital Challenge Fund programme to provide new facilities.

A provisional feasibility study proposes new pools in Bradford South (to replace the one at the Richard Dunn Centre), Bingley and Queensbury. Manningham pool would go. It would, however, be replaced by a major new pool near to the city centre, in Thornton Road, with a new ice rink alongside.

That pool would be an excellent addition to the district’s swimming facilities. Unfortunately, though, the proposal is to build only a 25-metre pool rather than a 50-metre competition-sized one.

With a shortage of Olympic-size and quality facilities in West and North Yorkshire, surely there is an opportunity here for Bradford to establish itself with a world-class facility that could put it on the map in much the way Manchester has done with its cycling velodrome?

Before the Council rejects the idea of a 50m pool completely, every possible funding avenue for such a development should be investigated.