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| Clissold Leisure Centre |
‘With regard to Time Out’s campaign, we are taking swimming pool provision in London very seriously,’ said Sport Minister Richard Caborn. ‘Sport England is developing a swimming strategy for London based on an analysis of the facilities and the impact of 2012. We are increasing the number of Olympic-sized pools, which both our elite swimmers and the general public can use. By 2012 there will be two 50-metre pools at the Olympics Aquatic Centre in Stratford in addition to the two 50-metre pools we already have in Crystal Palace and Ealing. Local authorities will invest £1 billion over the next three years in sports services, with a large amount of this spent in London,’ he said. Feature continues
The Mayor, Ken Livingstone, said he was in discussion with Hillingdon council about the possibility of building another 50-metre pool in west London. ‘Swimming brings me not only a great deal of pleasure but gives me the exercise that I need – and the time to think. I am not alone. I am working to ensure that it is a key, accessible and affordable sport for all Londoners,’ he said.
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| Kentish Town baths |
There are many reasons to be cheerful as the new year begins. However, the reality is that London is also playing catch-up to provide basic facilities. Although pool funding is now on the political agenda, this has come about because of strong lobbying in reaction to years of council underinvestment. Meanwhile, even the much-vaunted Olympic aquatic centre (long used to pacify campaigners) is being scaled back to meet cost constraints.
‘It has been a good year for pools,' said Noel Winter, facilities officer for the Amateur Swimming Association, ‘but if you compare us to cities in Germany, or Paris, which has 90 indoor 50-metre pools compared to the 21 we have in the UK, we are lagging behind. It certainly won’t help our Olympic goals. It’s cheaper for councils to build other facilities, such as badminton courts, rather than pools, but it must be seen in terms of investing in people maintaining a healthy lifestyle. If you ask people which sport they want to do most, it’s swimming that always comes top,’ he said.
‘We are glad that the government is taking London swimming seriously,’ said Liz Hughes from the London Pools Campaign. ‘The London swimming strategy is good, but that now needs to be implemented on a borough level. There’s a whole infastructure that needs to be put in place, such as each borough having a facilities strategy. The news on the Olympics pools is also fantastic, but overall there are less pools in the capital than 20 years ago. Almost all of the pools opened in 2006 were built to replace previous facilities.
‘We need a mixture of facilities, old and new. Some people love the historic pools, which are often inextricably tied to the community’s identity, but that is hard to quantify in terms of ticking government target boxes,’ she said.
2006 was a bumper year for pool openings, but as we bring our campaign to a close, there is much room for improvement. Here’s what we’d like to see government and councils do next:
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1 comment
The UK is just so far behind in the availability of 50 meter competition pools than many less populated and certainly less funded countries in the world.
We have a new 50m pool opened recently called the K2 sports centre in Crawley, West Sussex but the actual 50m pool itself is only open for 60-90 minutes in the morning mon - fri. How awful is that! Many people would love to swim in this size pool for health and fitness but get taken way back to the back of the line as the swimming clubs always have preferental treatment over the public into using the 50m pool. I understand the facility can get a dual purpose and increased revenue out of splitting the pool down the middle, but surely it defeats the whole point of advertising the 50m pool as such!?
At least give the public and other clubs the chance to be able to experience the 50m pool in all it's glory in the morning, afternoon, evening and weekends, and not just for the few that are able to get up at some ungodly hour in the morning and swim before work!