Swimming lessons for pupils - commitment from Herefordshire Council

Herefordshire Council is committed to ensuring that the county’s youngsters learn to swim and is keen to work with schools, clubs and leisure providers Halo to guarantee this is the case.

However, with a £300,000 bill to repair and make energy efficient the local education pool at St Martin’s, the viability of reopening the facility needs to be carefully examined before any investment is made.

The cost of running the pool stands at about £171,000 a year.

Those were among the key messages members of Herefordshire Council’s cabinet heard when its members met on Thursday, July 31.

They reluctantly agreed not to re-open the LEA pool, which has been dogged by long-term structural faults and leaks, and agreed that alternative swimming arrangements be offered at Hereford Leisure Pool from September.

However, they want the provision of swimming lessons, which will be provided by Halo, monitored to ensure that the needs of schools and other users continues to be met.

A further recommendation, from Cllr Phillip Price, cabinet member ICT, education and achievement, was that the council work closely with Halo, schools, clubs and other users of the LEA pool to ensure that a viable and efficient service is provided.

A report detailing the outcome of this will come before cabinet in Easter next year.

Cllr Price said: “With the increase in energy costs and the loss of the education budget alongside the capital required to bring it back to basic standard, the LEA pool cannot re-open.

“Halo will provide a fit for purpose provision of service that the council will monitor at the leisure pool.

“Timetables and pool usage will be changed as soon as possible, within the Halo current schedule of bookings to accommodate all users.

“We will work with all interested parties to further review the future of the LEA pool with evidence based data for next spring.”