Swimming Pool Scene PUBLIC POOLS
The Perfect Storm Ashleigh Mackenzie reviews the state of public pool provision in the UK… ABOVE: Earlier this summer Oldham’s new £15m leisure centre opened, boasting a 25m eight-lane competition pool.
Lack of access to local swimming pools is the key factor in a disappointing decline of swimming participation since London 2012. The Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) confi rms, as of June
2015, there were 5,055 public swimming pools in England – that is 61 fewer pools than in 2013.
“The biggest challenge facing the whole leisure market is the lack of funding now available to local authorities,” warns Mark Sesnan, Managing Director at GLL. “We face a real risk of a ‘perfect storm’ being created,” he adds. “Funding is being cut to public leisure at the same time as there is a
huge need for the leisure operators to help address the health and activity agenda.”
He continues: “There’s an illogical assumption that there’s a magic wand out there which would let us maintain low prices for users alongside implementing the National and London Living Wage for our staff whilst also reconciling budget cuts and then with increased health intervention at the same time. This isn’t a sustainable situation for anybody.”
Andrew Clark, National Sports and Aquatics Manager at GLL agrees that the sustainability of pools is a key challenge. He says that with local authority spending cuts and the cost of providing a swim at an average of £10, set against the average cost to customer being less than £4 you can clearly see the level of subsidy required to ensure pools are kept open.
“Operators need to be given the freedom to programme pools to ensure revenue can be maximised at peak times that will allow more targeted community and club use to happen outside of those times. The swimming pool has to be fl exible enough to accommodate a broad range of uses,” says Andrew.
ABOVE: Despite swimming being one of the most popular sports, ASA fi gures show that one in fi ve adults are unable to swim. Pic: Georgie Kerr.
34 Swimming Pool Scene PUBLIC POOLS
“Good programming and innovative product development has been key to us bucking the trend on swimming participation, with growth of 17% on like for like comparisons last year.” Alyson Zell, Aquatics Business Manager for Freedom Leisure concurs: “There has been a lack of consistent investment in public
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