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POOLS: IS IT £85M DOWN THE DRAIN?
Revamped leisure centre is forced to close ‘awful’ facility
LEISURE chiefs have admitted there are “fundamental” failures with a pool at the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre, just three years after it opened to great fanfare.
The 10-metre learner pool at the £85million complex has been closed for five weeks, forcing children and toddlers to take lessons in the adult pool.
Staff admit the service is “totally unsatisfactory” and have launched an investigation. But they say they cannot give a date for when the supposedly state-of-the-art pool will be back in use.
Conservative education chief Councillor Andrew Mennear said the situation at the leisure centre was “awful”. He was one of the most vocal critics of the overspend and delays connected with the centre’s opening in 2006.
The only other public learner pool in Camden is being refurbished at Kentish Town Baths and is not due to re-open until next autumn.
Last month, the New Journal revealed that the two Swiss Cottage pools had been closed for a combined 121 days over the past three years.
The first sign of the latest problem came last week, when the council’s leisure and sport chief Nigel Robinson posted a statement on the Camden Swiss Cottage Swimming Club’s website warning he would not reopen the pool until it was safe and could not say when that would be.
The council insists it must have assurances from the company that installed the pool that it is fit for purpose. If they are unable to give them, an independent review of its safety will be commissioned.
Mr Robinson said: “Repairs have been carried out by the installer but based on painful experience of ineffective remedies on previous occasions I am taking no chances and am determined to get to the bottom of the problem.”
Under the terms of the controversial redevelopment of the site, the Town Hall sold off a piece of land where the old pool was sited to developer Barratts in return for a new sports centre, theatre and a refurbished library.
“The Visage”, a block of around 200 flats, was built as part of the deal.
The leisure centre project ran into problems with delays and overspends but the council has always refused to publish a secret investigation they carried out and have never revealed how much over budget the development went.
Last night, Cllr Mennear said: “The leisure centre had many faults – including the vast overspend and the delay – but we never thought that the design per se was faulty. This is awful.”
Phil Turner, the Labour leisure chief who oversaw the development, was unavailable for comment.
A council spokesman denied legal action against the company behind the pool was planned, adding: “Our contractual arrangements are with Barratts who subcontracted the design and installation of the teaching pool to Europool. The council has a contractual relationship with Barratts so any recourse for contractual reasons will be conducted through this channel.” |
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