A triathlete has hit out at a council suggestion that the club she coaches could use the pool at Cockermouth rather than the one at Keswick.
Debbie Edginton, who is head coach at Keswick Tri Club, said she was approached this week by a member of staff at Allerdale Borough Council who appeared to be conducting a survey about the closed pool at Keswick in a bid to establish whether there were going to be enough users to open it to the public once more.
“We have 20 junior members and 30 adults and we currently have no local pool facility,” said Mrs Edginton.
“I think it’s an outrage that we have not got the pool or gym in Keswick open.
“What they (Allerdale Borough Council) are looking at is giving us access to Cockermouth. We are a local community and we are going to have to travel 26 miles there and back and not everybody can do that after work.
“Many parents don’t have the capacity to drive their children through.”
Mrs Edginton said that there were many adults in the town wanting to keep fit over the winter and many juniors were going to have no pool swimming.
“No swimming pool ever makes money, they are so costly to run,” said Mrs Edginton.
“But it’s a much-needed facility for people to have exercise during COVID. It’s so important for the well-being of people to have a pool open during COVID.
“It’s non-negotiable to me.”
She was of the opinion that Keswick pool could manage the capacity to deal with the COVID restrictions and although it would be difficult to open it up as a leisure pool it could still be used safely by serious swimmers.
“You could open it COVID safe. It just needs a bit of thinking about,” said Mrs Edginton.
“At Keswick we are always treated as second class citizens by Allerdale. We are always the last to get anything.”
The Reminder reported last week that fears were surfacing in the town that Keswick’s only public swimming facility may not reopen.
The Station Road pool has been shut since lockdown in March and although some other swim facilities in Allerdale have reopened from as far back as July, it remains shut, with no sign of any progress.
The Reminder contacted Allerdale Borough Council who declined to make any comment about the survey or the future of the pool.