Lancashire swimming pool could get extra £1m for revamp taking total investment above £4m
The fight to save a swimming pool for the future could receive a welcome £1m boost if councillors back new budget recommendations.
Ribblesdale Pool in Clitheroe is over 50 years old but serves people across a wide area including school pupils. Protecting its ageing concrete pool from the risk of leaks and cutting its energy use are key aims for Ribble Valley Council, which owns the pool and hopes it can last another 15 years with a proposed.
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And now the project to safeguard the swimming pool for the future could be increased to more than £4m in total.
Last year, surveys suggested its structure is sound but at least £1m was needed for urgent mechanical and electrical work. A higher figure of £3m was estimated for wider improvements including water filter equipment, boilers and air handling units.
This year, following recent budget preparation work, a new recommendation has been made to increase the pool’s cash allocation to a total £4.2million over the next few years. This would pay for work including a fire alarm system, a tank lining to minimise risks of any pool leaks and a replacement roof.
The latest recommendations follow a new architecture report about the pool. The council’s important Policy & Finance Committee, led by council leader Conservative Coun Simon Hore, has to decide if it supports a recommendation to take £1.25million from the borough’s general funds to meet the higher pool allocation.
Ultimate approval will be needed at the budget meeting in March. The pool’s condition, running costs, investment of public money and future maintenance have been debated at many council meetings. Issues include uncertainty about its future under the management of a new, bigger council due in 2028.
Ribble Valley councillors have been keen to ‘future-proof’ the pool, as far as possible, but are also aware of the need to spend public cash wisely. Building a brand-new pool has not been seen as an option. A future bigger council could, in theory, close Ribblesdale Pool and focus on other leisure centres, some Ribble Valley councillors warned last year.
They said neighbouring pools in Hyndburn and Pendle were seeing investment and could be favoured in future. So Ribble Valley councillors had to be sure, as far as possible, that investing in Ribblesdale was a good use of money. Councillors generally felt investment in Ribblesdale was justified and the public wanted it.
Ribble Valley Council has some other big projects too, like repairing Clitheroe Castle, which is underway, and providing affordable housing, which councillors also feel are important for the future. All the council’s big one-off schemes, called ‘capital’ projects, remain fully-resourced and are affordable and achievable, a new report for the Policy & Finance Committee adds.
The committee has suggested there should be no more big projects added to the capital programme. Instead, council bosses should identify any essential schemes or other things needed to continue ‘business as usual’ over the next few years.
Ribble Valley Council faces potential merger or abolition in 2028, under a government shake-up of all Lancashire councils. It could merge with Lancaster and Preston, under one idea. But the government will decide following consultation.