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Swimmers get a bit of good news at last
• I AM really glad for my grandchildren’s sake that the Kentish Town Swimming Baths are to be saved at long last (Crumbling baths are thrown £22 million lifeline, October 5).
Councillor Theo Blackwell who criticises the retaining of the learners’ pool is misguided. Children must learn to swim when they are young and vulnerable in a safe environment especially designed for them. They will then have a fair chance to graduate to grown-up pools and perhaps even make it to the Olympics one day.
Labour’s values about sports facilities have been adrift over the years.
For example, after receiving generous assistance from Sports England to create the now popular Talacre Sports Centre, they suddenly were found to be planning furtively to destroy parts of the Centre to make way for a “Swiss Cottage”-style development.
When it comes to sport, quite how Labour can shrug off its ‘sell the family silver’ image is going to be a big challenge.
JILL HASTINGS
Fitzjohns Avenue, NW3
• IT is good news that the learners’ pool at Kentish Town baths can be saved.
The best time for children to learn to swim is when they are little, when for many of them the big pools are too deep and too scary, so the learners’ pool is immensely important.
Councillor Theo Blackwell thinks the money would be better spent on hiring famous swimmers to coach Kentish Town kids for the Olympics. Not much point in that if they haven’t had the chance to learn to swim in the first place.
If we keep the learners’ pool, Kentish Town children will have the benefit of it for generations.
Once let it be destroyed and it will have gone for ever.
RODERICK ALLISON
Elaine Grove, NW5
• IT is a great relief to read that the Lib Dem and Conservative alliance have voted to save Kentish Town Swimming Baths.
The word spread around by Labour critics before this announcement, however, was that the Lib Dems would renege on their electoral promises. That they only offered to save the baths because they did not think they had any chance to get elected. Well done for proving Labour wrong.
What about saving the Talacre Sports Centre whilst you are at it? It is now becoming obvious to all concerned that the closure of Dalby Street would prove detrimental, if not disastrous, to the Sports Centre, if allowed to go through (Dalby Street plans need to be stopped, October 5).
The Lib Dems are clearly unable to take credit for putting up these wonderful sports facilities for the community, but perhaps they could take credit for saving them.
JJ THIBEAULT
Perrins Lane, NW3
• IT is great news that the council is due to commit to a serious refurbishment plan for Kentish Town Baths – great news for swimmers, for local schools and for the community.
While Labour have tried to snipe in the last few months, the plain facts are that they did nothing for four years, whereas the new Council has got moving within six months. Thanks to Labour’s neglect, this is going to be a long project, but at the end we will have a fine leisure centre to serve the diverse community in this part of the borough.
Of course one very significant difference is the inclusion of the learner pool in the new plan. The issue here is one of space.
Between 20 and 30 Camden schools rely on the Baths for their weekly lessons, amounting to some 600 children. There are also regular parent-and-baby classes that take place in the learner pool. Sport England confirm that a dedicated pool for learners is by far the best option.
Labour wanted to scrap the learner pool and squeeze learners into one of the main pools, thus leaving the club swimmers, the aqua fitness classes and all the general swimmers just one pool to share. The new council has recognised that while we have the space there already, we should treasure it.
Cllr PHILIP THOMPSON
Town Hall
Judd Street
WC1
• THE announcement by the Lib Dem and Conservative alliance that they have found the money to save the Prince of Wales Baths is a welcome boost to the neighbourhood.
The Talacre Sports Centre which is just down the road from the baths will help promote this once forlorn and declining area of Kentish Town as a major centre for many of the sporting needs of Camden.
With the eventual full restoration of the pools at Prince of Wales Road close by the Talacre Community Sports Centre, the locality takes on particular recreational importance.
A forward-thinking council would use all the land at the corner of Dalby Street and Prince of Wales Road wisely. What is needed in this growing area for youth and adult sport users is longer term plans for the expansion of the Sports Centre and better road access at Dalby Street. Only then, could the new local government be able to claim that they have done their best to promote safe quality facilities for everyone in an area with a burgeoning population increase.
PETER CUMING
Talacre Road
NW5 |
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