Pressure is mounting on Allerdale Borough Council to replace Keswick’s condemned swimming pool with a new-build leisure facility.
More than 1,000 people have put their names to an on-line petition, automatically triggering a debate at the authority’s meeting in Workington on Wednesday July 28 where pro-pool campaigners are planning to lobby councillors.
The Friends of Keswick Leisure’s Facebook page also has 730 members since being set up shortly before the Keswick Reminder revealed last week that the town’s pool, which has been closed since March last year, would not be reopening because it was losing £250,000 a year and needed £230,000 of repairs.
Keswick mum Fran Robson set up the protest petition calling for it to be replaced with modern swimming and gym facilities.
She says the loss of the facility is potentially life-threatening. Referring to Keswick no longer having a safe, indoor place for people to learn to swim, she said: “I think it is a very dangerous.
“We will have a whole generation of people that can’t swim – or can’t swim very well. That is not a good thing in a town like Keswick which is on a lake with lots of rivers and becks nearby.”
Fran is having to take her six-year-old daughter to Workington in the evening to learn to swim.
She was praised for setting up the petition by Councillor Markus Campbell-Savours, one of Keswick’s three Allerdale councillors and who set up the Friends of Keswick Leisure group.
He said: “I have been contacted by many residents who share a frustration with the inadequate facilities in Keswick.
“The closure of the pool with no plans for replacement has turned this frustration into anger.
“People are demanding to know how quickly a new facility can be built and what alternative provision can be made available in the short term.
“Allerdale has no plan for where the development can be located or financed. Allerdale needs to be honest about what can be achieved, especially with local government reorganisation looming.
“While we wait for them, I will work with the community to ensure its needs are not overlooked.”
Coun Tony Lywood, Keswick’s representative on Cumbria County Council, said: “I read with amazement that Allerdale are to close our pool forever to save £230,000 per year. I will expect them to announce their intention to build a new proper leisure centre in its place.
“£230,000 could service a local government loan of £9.2 million to build a state-of-the-art new one.
“I urge Allerdale, which takes over £2 million per year from our car parks, to put back some of what they get from the town into a new community-led leisure centre for Keswick.”
