Management

New Pool Management Arrangements

As part of Stroud District Council’s cost cutting measures a number of sports facilities in the district are facing an uncertain future. One of these is Wotton Pool. The pool is owned by the Town Council and operated as a public facility by SDC. SDC are likely to withdraw their financial, technical and administrative support for the pool from March next year (2011).

This could threaten the future of the pool, and is a great pity as it was built in the early 60s by town residents and is regarded with great affection by many residents and users. It was run as a school facility for many years, but in the eighties/nineties the education authority decided it was difficult to operate as an educational facility. It was then that the Town Council bought the site to preserve it as a local facility, and SDC took over running it as it is in their leisure area.

So, What to do?

The Swimming Pool Club, the SDC and the Town Council are working together this year to develop a different model for operating the Pool. This should allow the pool to operate in the future, provided funding and effort can be found to make it work. A key element in this strategy is to emulate other pools that have successfully made this transition. A notable example that has been visited by the Project Team is Chipping Norton Lido, where the Trust-operated outdoor pool operates side-by-side with the Council-run indoor pool.

The current favourite for operating the pool is to set up a Trust consisting of representation from bodies including the Town Council and the Swimming Pool Club. As currently envisaged, this will hold the responsibility for operating the pool and will put in hand the Health and Safety controls, cover the costs (utility bills, rates, insurance etc) and employ the necessary staff to run the pool. In addition to these employees there will also be inputs from volunteers and contractors.

So, How to pay for all this?

We are actively seeking financial assistance for this in the form of grants and funding. We anticipate that raising lump sums for specific projects/facilities/repairs will be readily manageable with assistance from keen volunteers. However, securing the year-on-year revenue to cover the running costs looks more difficult and we may have to call on the Town Precept for assistance with this.

One of the key ways to reduce costs is to get people to go swimming and pay as they go through the gate. Some community-run pools claim to make a profit, and they do this by having the ability to pack swimmers in when the weather is good.

So, if you want to help?

…one of the best ways is to:

‘Just Keep Swimming!’