Work can start on planning a new swimming pool for Withdean after councillors approved funding for the design and planning stage.
The £6 million project received cross-party support when it went before Brighton and Hove City Council’s Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee today (Thursday 25 January).
As well as backing a new pool at the Withdean Sports Complex, councillors also agreed to a feasibility study for a further swimming pool in the east of the city.
Moulsecoomb Leisure Centre is the leading option, with the Stanley Deason Leisure Centre, in Whitehawk, under consideration.
Labour councillor Alan Robins said that there was a “warm glow” when all members backed the move at a meeting of the council’s Culture, Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Economic Development Committee.
Councillor Robins said: “I am really proud we will continue to be able to provide free swimming for under 18 years old.
“This is something we can take particular pride in. This is an important health and wellbeing consideration.”
Councillor Robins recalled having a heart attack seven years ago and the advice that followed to stay healthy and exercise.
Labour councillor Jacob Taylor, who leads on finance, said that the council could borrow £6 million to fund the project because it was “capital spending” which would bring in an income.
Councillor Taylor, who represents Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, said that the council was allowed to borrow for this sort of big-ticket item but not for day-to-day revenue spending.
He said: “We have to maintain infrastructure in the city. We haven’t invested enough whether it’s roads or school buildings or leisure facilities. It is really important during difficult times with the revenue budget to invest in infrastructure.”
He said that he was particularly pleased to see Moulsecoomb Leisure Centre listed as the potential location for a future pool.
Green councillor Sue Shanks said that there would need to be more bus services for the site which is served by the 27 at the moment.
Conservative councillor Alistair McNair said that he hoped that the 40-year projections for income were both conservative and accurate because the building would be “dilapidated” in four decades.
The council’s executive director for the economy, environment and culture Donna Chisholm said that the council had not built a pool in more than 30 years but efficiency had improved in that time.
Labour councillor Tim Rowkins mentioned projects that use heat from data centres to warm pools.
Mrs Chisholm said that it was being looked into, giving Exeter’s “passive leisure centre” as an example of modern efficiency.
The pool proposed at Withdean could make a modest profit of just over £12,000 a year, councillors were told.
The capital outlay was expected to be about £5.8 million. The council planned to budget for a 7.5 per cent contingency in case costs increased.
The proposed pool would have to generate an annual income of almost £560,000 to cover the estimated £260,000 running costs and service the loan at almost £300,000 a year.
Sports England has given the council a £400,000 grant from its Swimming Pool Support Fund but this was aimed at the continuing operation of existing pools in the area.
The committee unanimously agreed to borrow £450,000 to pay professional fees for detailed design and survey work and the obtaining of planning permission.
Potholes. Toilets. Weeds. Not sexy enough for our councillors. Let’s build a swimming pool and justify the losses later, while blaming government cuts.
I am coming to the conclusion that our infrastructure is being deliberately and wilfully undermined so that the party line of the greens and labour of it is all down to government cuts can be repeated.
Interesting that since Starmer said there will be no windfall for councils if they win an election, that Labour councillors have stopped saying it.
This also serves to further convince me that national party politics have no place in running a city.
Independents have no national axe to grind.
Independents certainly do not do it for the money or power.
Independents do not regard it as a stepping stone to becoming a MP
Question the motives of any party candidate at the next local election.
Isn’t it financial misconduct in public office to borrow £6m for a new swimming pool no one asked for while threatening the city with bankruptsy?
Since this is surely supposed to mostly serve the people local to it, why Withdean? There must be more backyard pools in, or near there, than any other part of the city, and that is indicative of the widespread affluence of residents in those parts. Those residents have all sorts of advantages, and are healthier for it already no doubt.
Borrow £6m for an unplanned new project with repayments of £300k over years and years? The Council was awarded £3m, interest-free, last March by the government to improve walking & cycling but it hasn’t even announced it, yet alone spend any of it on the fully-planned roadworks that would make the city safer.
Probably will be diverted into another pet project despite laws and rules.
500k income per year! Thats 100,000 visits at £5 per swim. If under 18s are free the council are expecting at least 200,000 visits per year. Sounds like same over optimistic planning team as the eye360.
Where will 200,000 visitors park?
What happens to the park and ride?
Why is this being rushed through when the central pools have been waiting for a referb for 20 years?
With the dismal record of council financial planning would it be a good idea for an independent financial review before we take on more debt?
Where’s the consultation?