Community groups invited to take over running of Ellesmere swimming pool

Community groups and other organisations in north Shropshire are being invited to express an interest in taking over the running of Ellesmere swimming pool.

Ellesmere swimming pool is a community pool that sits on the Ellesmere Primary School site, and is managed and maintained by the school.

Built more than 40 years ago, the pool costs the school around £80,000 a year to maintain – and also needs a substantial capital investment to bring in up to modern day standards.

The school feels that the money it pays in management and maintenance costs would be better spent on their pupils’ education.

In addition, funding that the school receives from central government towards the running of the pool is being greatly reduced over the next two years, when it will end completely – meaning the school will also to have to find additional funds from existing budgets.

It is therefore considering possible alternative options for the future running of the pool, and is working with Shropshire Council to ask community groups and other organisations if they would like to take on responsibility for the pool.

Any local community groups and private sector operators interested in taking over the running of the pool are asked to submit expressions of interest to Shropshire Council by Wednesday 3 June.

Further details can be found on the Shropshire Council website. An Open Day will be held at the pool on Wednesday 27 May 2015, from 11.30am to 1pm, to allow interested groups to find out more.

Andrew Everett, headteacher at Ellesmere Primary School, said:

“Unfortunately the pool has seen better days and is now showing its age. The money that the school has to pay to manage and maintain the pool is money that we would much rather spend on the education of our pupils – with the reduction and ending of the government’s ‘joint use’ funding making things even harder for us. And with numbers on roll increasing, the money spent on the pool could be much better spent on an additional classroom, teachers and pupil resources.”

Ann Hartley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for children’s services, and Shropshire Councillor for Ellesmere Urban, said:

“The pool was originally built thanks to donations from the local community. Therefore, we think it is only right and fair that we ask the local community if they would be willing to take on the running of the pool, freeing up much-needed money that the school could then put into the education of local childen.”

Ellesmere swimming pool is currently used by pupils from Ellesmere Primary, Criftins Primary and Cockshutt Primary for curriculum-based swimming lessons. It is also used by a small number of local clubs and societies.