I have had a first opportunity to look at the report commissioned on Leisure Services across the Five Towns and South East of the District. You may have seen the headlines about pools to close in Knottingley, Castleford and Pontefract in this weeks edition of the Pontefract & Castleford Express,
This has been rumbling on for some time and the consultants talk about demand and facilities beyond their planned life and the risks that go with that. Now some of you may recall the closure of Minsthorpe Pool last year and the way that left the South East without swimming facilities. There was an absolute uproar and a large group of folk went to the Council Chamber in Wakefield to register their disgust. Whilst WMDC talk about the need for £1.1 million to bring the facility back to life, it turned out the closure was about a £1500 repair and a supplementary £15000 to improve some aspects of safety. What that says in the final analysis is that WMDC have not been maintaining and upgrading the districts leisure facilities in a structured and planned way and have had a high cost reactive policy in place, this has been going on for years and is an absolute disgrace..
Of the three pools that are being targeted in the 5 towns, Pontefract is in best condition, busiest and being adjacent to the Town Centre and the Bus Station and with ample parking facilities its loss will be felt. Closing it as part of a plan to replace the three with a single new facility at Glasshoughton, on the Prince of Wales site or on Pontefract Park seems just barmy.
Whatever happens I want to see the best facility in Pontefract for our residents. We have up to 4000 new homes to be built in our part of the world and I am sure that the new residents would join with existing ones in the message Keep Swimming at Pontefract!
We will see what the Cabinet decides on Tuesday they will be using government budget reductions to excuse them in tidying up their years of underfunding leisure and their poor use of resources.
I suspect we may have a battle on our hands and one we need to see the best result for Pontefract and its people.
This has been rumbling on for some time and the consultants talk about demand and facilities beyond their planned life and the risks that go with that. Now some of you may recall the closure of Minsthorpe Pool last year and the way that left the South East without swimming facilities. There was an absolute uproar and a large group of folk went to the Council Chamber in Wakefield to register their disgust. Whilst WMDC talk about the need for £1.1 million to bring the facility back to life, it turned out the closure was about a £1500 repair and a supplementary £15000 to improve some aspects of safety. What that says in the final analysis is that WMDC have not been maintaining and upgrading the districts leisure facilities in a structured and planned way and have had a high cost reactive policy in place, this has been going on for years and is an absolute disgrace..
Of the three pools that are being targeted in the 5 towns, Pontefract is in best condition, busiest and being adjacent to the Town Centre and the Bus Station and with ample parking facilities its loss will be felt. Closing it as part of a plan to replace the three with a single new facility at Glasshoughton, on the Prince of Wales site or on Pontefract Park seems just barmy.
Whatever happens I want to see the best facility in Pontefract for our residents. We have up to 4000 new homes to be built in our part of the world and I am sure that the new residents would join with existing ones in the message Keep Swimming at Pontefract!
We will see what the Cabinet decides on Tuesday they will be using government budget reductions to excuse them in tidying up their years of underfunding leisure and their poor use of resources.
I suspect we may have a battle on our hands and one we need to see the best result for Pontefract and its people.
1 comment:
We want our children to be safe and fit is this the right way to go about it?
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