Agenda item

With reference to article 29 of the minute of its meeting of 16 September 2010, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport providing an update on the Water Management Plan for Aberdeen City.

In accordance with the decision to hear a deputation on this item (article 3 of this minute refers), the Committee heard from Dawn Bellamy, Secretary of Torry Community Council, speak on behalf of the community of Torry, as well as past users of Tullos swimming pool.  Ms. Bellamy referred to the closure of Tullos Pool in August, 2008 for the purpose of conducting repairs to the roof;  stated that Tullos Pool had been the most well used community pool in Aberdeen and was missed by Torry residents as well as people working in and around Torry and Tullos and various clubs which had used this pool extensively;  urged the Committee to address the lack of a swimming pool in Torry urgently by committing to re-open and running the pool on an on-going basis;  presented the Convener with a petition co-ordinated by the Community Council requesting that the pool be re-opened;  set out the rationale for re-opening the pool, including Torry’s status as a regeneration area, the health benefits of swimming, the distraction from nuisance and vandalism experienced in Torry.   Ms. Bellamy sought clarification on the extent of the works already undertaken at Tullos Pool and asked that the Committee instruct officers to involve the Torry community in looking into any means, whether public, private, co-operative or not for profit in re-opening the Tullos Pool.   Turning to the report before the Committee, Ms. Bellamy queried the reason for including private pools within the assessment undertaken, which were not accessible unless an initial joining fee and monthly payment were made.   Likewise, the inclusion of the Beach Leisure Centre was queried on the basis that it was not possible to do any kind of swimming at this facility.   Ms. Bellamy further expressed the view that the ordinary and occasional user of swimming pools, i.e. the public, had not been adequately involved in the consultation process, and asked the Committee to address the lack of the swimming pool in Torry on an urgent basis by committing to re-open and run Tullos Pool, and to instruct officers to (1) bring back a report to the next meeting detailing and validating costs for repair at the pool with a view to officers identifying money for these repairs to take place, and (2) inform and involve the Torry community in looking into any means of re-opening Tullos Pool.   Ms. Bellamy, on behalf of Torry Community Council, raised concerns about the assumptions made in the preparation of the initial Water Management Plan (a) particularly the running of models using the Beach Leisure Centre and private swimming pools;  (b) challenging perceptions about the accessibility of pools by people living in regeneration areas and the cost of this access compared to income;  and (c) that the report had not consulted and involved the ordinary and occasional users of swimming pools in Aberdeen.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

(a)       note the progress of the Water Management Plan Working Group;

(b)       note the results of the facilities planning model;

(c)        instruct officers to develop proposals for a sustainable strategy for the provision of swimming pools in the city as part of the sport and leisure asset plan with Sport Aberdeen.   This work would be completed in partnership with the Water Management Plan Working Group, including Sport Aberdeen, Scottish Swimming, sportscotland, Aberdeen Sports Village, local swimming clubs and other key stakeholders.   The proposals would be linked to the Council-wide Asset Management Strategy;  and

(d)       instruct officers to address the current lack of access to a swimming pool in Torry and to review the existing programming of pools to take account of the needs of the communities in Northfield.  This would be undertaken through the leisure asset plan and will explore opportunities within the asset plan for schools.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve recommendations (a), (b) and (c) in the report;

(ii)        to note with concern the current lack of access to a swimming pool in Torry, and to instruct officers to submit a further report on Tullos Swimming Pool, including detailed and validated capital costings and possible sources of funding and the possibility of running buses between swimming pools in order to address need, to the budget process; and

(iv)       to instruct officers to work with the Torry community to identify a means of re-opening Tullos Pool; 

(v)        to instruct officers to review the existing programming of pools to take account of the needs of the communities in Northfield, this to be undertaken through the leisure asset plan, and to explore opportunities within the asset plan for schools;

(vi)       that officers would provide more detailed information to Councillor Laing on the comparisons being drawn between pools locally and nationally, and to check and confirm the accuracy of the maps where they referred to a swimming pool located within the Bridge of Don and also at the Beach; 

(vii)      to instruct officers to explore the options for making use of offshore survival pools for public access;  and

(viii)     to instruct officers to recirculate the briefing provided by sportscotland earlier in the year to Committee members.