Agenda item

Indy Sindhu asked the Executive Member for Environment the following question:

 

Question

Over 700 residents have signed a petition to have our children's beach pool yet the plans have been approved and haven't included an amendment taking into consideration what the community has requested. Why have the Council chosen to ignore the concerns of a growing section of our community?

 

Minutes:

Question

Over 700 residents have signed a petition to have our children's beach pool yet the plans have been approved and haven't included an amendment taking into consideration what the community has requested. Why have the Council chosen to ignore the concerns of a growing section of our community?

Answer

We are not ignoring the concerns of those who have signed the petition but we aim to provide a balanced range of facilities for our 165,000 residents across the Borough. It is also our aim to have these facilities be self-financing, in that the user fees will pay for the capital and the running costs. So far I have not seen a business case for a beach pool at Carnival Pool that would pay back the investment in it. The forecast number of users is too low to allow it to pay for itself in that way.

 

The new Carnival Pool complex will include quite a number of facilities there will be a:

 

·         4 court sports hall with 400 seats for cultural events;

·         25m x 6 lane swimming pool;

·         teaching pool with moveable floor that we have just spoken about;

·         100 station gym;

·         Studio;

·         Café; and

·         elsewhere in the building there will be a library.

 

In addition, across the Borough, during the next year we will open new facilities at Ryeish Green and Arborfield plus a new artificial pitch at Emmbrook School. We recently opened an artificial pitch at Arborfield and tennis courts and pavilion at Cantley Park. We also plan to build a complete new leisure centre at Bulmershe in Woodley. So at the moment our approved capital expenditure on leisure facilities is around £30 million; so we are spreading it across the Borough.

 

At the same time, our neighbour, Reading Borough Council appears to have lost control of its finances and it is closing facilities; it is not opening them.

 

We have catered for small children splashing around in water by the proposed inclusion of the learner pool which we have just talked about. Just to repeat it will have a floor which can be moved, thus the depth of water can be adjusted so at peak times we have it as a toddlers’ splash pool and then at other times it can be used for other activities.

 

So it is clearly good to get youngsters in the habit of coming to leisure centres and using the pools so we hope that that facility will be used in that way and that encourages people obviously in the long term to live a healthy lifestyle which is to be encouraged.

 

At the moment unfortunately there does not appear to be sufficient demand to make a beach pool a high priority in our spending plans.

 

Supplementary Question:

So you mentioned that there was not a business case that was in support of keeping the Carnival Pool with the splash pool in tact however, and I am quoting here from the National Policy Planning Framework, they say that the new leisure facilities should not be moved unless the replacement is an improvement on existing facilities or at least an equivalent.  Clearly taking something away such as a splash pool and not replacing it is in contravention of this so how have you taken the National Policy Planning Framework, and this sentence in particular, into account?

 

Supplementary Answer:

A couple of points.  Firstly, although the beach pool will not be there there will be the teaching pool which will have a moveable floor so the depth of water can be adjusted so that a full range of activities can happen in that pool.  So we are not losing, in fact we are gaining, a facility that can be more widely used.  These new facilities are very flexible with their use to allow disabled people to use the facility as well. I have been and seen the one at Hart and it is quite impressive.  These sort of facilities are really nice.

 

In terms of the usage we have surveyed the usage of the current facility over the last week or so and I was quite surprised actually at the outcome of that.  In the period Monday to Friday last week there was less than 20 people used that facility on any one day.  The numbers were counted every half an hour during the whole day so there is probably even some double counting if people were in there for more than half an hour they would be counted twice.  That is children and adults.  So that is less than 20 people.  It peaked on a Sunday and there were 119 on Sunday but again there will be some double counting and that includes adults.  So the usage, and if you multiply up the fees that generates, you can very easily see that the facility just wouldn’t pay for itself I am afraid.

 

So unless you can convince the Council that hundreds more people are going to be using such a facility then I think it is unlikely that we would be looking to build such a thing.

 

So just to repeat the teaching pool will provide the flexibility for all age groups and abilities to use swimming pools but I do not see the case at the moment for adding a beach pool to the new facility I am afraid.  I would like to be able to but I do not see the case for it at the moment.