We should all be fighting to keep local swimming pools open - Yorkshire Post Letters

We should all be fighting to keep our local council swimming pools open.

The MP for Batley and Spen, Kim Leadbeater, is 'spot on' with her comments about fighting to keep our local swimming pools open, The Yorkshire Post, January 30, 2023.

Leisure centres with swimming baths are vital to keep us all healthy and fit, from learning to swim when we were toddlers right through our lives to in our latter years i.e. from cradle to grave.

Without them the NHS budget would need to be a lot more as swimming in warm water can be not only therapeutic, but good for exercising and strengthening those aching and damaged muscles.

Learning to swim can save your life and most leisure centres have swimming classes.

Indeed they are vital hubs in the community, where groups of friends can meet up, have a swim and have a hot or cold drink in the reasonably priced cafe. If the cost of refreshments is too much people will go to the local fast food takeaway for refreshments.

If catering is done correctly then a cafe area can actually generate surplus income to subsidise the cost of running a leisure centre.

The government needs to provide additional funding, which is ‘ring-fenced’ to local authorities, for two reasons; not only towards the running cost of maintaining the pools at comfortable temperatures but also to maintain these buildings.

To prevent users from becoming ill, a high dosage of chlorine is needed, which is very corrosive to all types of building materials. To keep leisure centres buildings safe, a higher level of maintenance is required, which is expensive.

Even outdoor swimming pools need a certain amount of heat in the water to make them attractive to the majority of users, especially in the nine months in this country when it is colder than the rest of our neighbouring European countries.

Many families cannot afford membership to a private gym which often has a swimming pool, even before the current cost of living kicked in.

When councillors are discussing budgets in February for the next financial year, it is essential that there is sufficient funds to keep leisure centres, especially those with swimming pools, open.

It is not an easy task as many local authorities have farmed out the running of leisure facilities to local community trust, which in some cases have had to be brought back in house again.

These community trustees need help from council officers, backing from council leaders and as a last resort lobbying from local MPs in order to keep these vital facilities open, to keep us all healthy. Then we have a better chance of a longer healthy life.

It is a known fact that in the North of England that life expectancy is less than in the more affluent shire counties like Surrey and Hampshire in the South East of England.

All MPs in the Houses of Parliament should be taking a leaf out of Kim Leadbetter's book of life, and fight for more money to keep local public sector run leisure centres open.