Flo steps in to fight pool closure (From Burnham & Highbridge Weekly News)

Flo steps in to fight pool closure

10:58am Wednesday 12th December 2007

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PROTESTORS have launched a full-scale operation to save Burnham swimming pool after its closure was recommended in a cost cutting measure last week.

Sedgemoor District Council released a statement on Wednesday (December 5) suggesting the pool's closure could help fill a £1.8million gap in its budget with effect from March 31, 2008.

But the news has outraged many local residents who use the facility on a regular basis, and a Burnham swimming club petition at the pool has already seen over 700 signatures attached.

Head coach Sarah Pusill was expecting to be honoured as president of Somerset Amateur Swimming Association, but the expected closure may put the move in jeopardy.

"There is every possibility the presidency could be lost," she said.

"But we will fight this as a club - this facility is too important to the people of Burnham."

The town's deputy mayor Cllr Neville Jones revealed to the Weekly News that alternative ways of funding the pool are being looked at, which may provide some hope.

"We were approached by a third party around two years ago who were prepared to run the pool on behalf of the town council but the idea eventually petered out," he said.

"We are now looking at reviving that offer which would be very good news for the town."

The authority says the decision would save a projected total of over £800,000 in a series of cuts that could also see up to 50 council jobs axed.

102-year-old Broughton Lodge care home resident Flo Long said she was angry at the council for taking away a provision used by groups of elderly and young people in the town.

She said: "So many different groups use the pool it's barmy to take it away. We will fight to save it."

The statement from Sedgemoor District Council said the recommendation to close would see the site placed on the open market for sale.

"All capital receipts generated from the sale would be ring fenced and placed in a common good fund for expenditure solely for the betterment of the residents of Burnham and Highbridge," it read.

"Each year Sedgemoor District Council subsidies the running costs to the tune of £250,000. This means that council tax is subsidising each swim to the sum of £3.36.

"A condition survey was carried out in November and it is estimated that an additional £2million will need to be spent over the next three years to maintain it at a safe level."

Sedgemoor is also looking at closing the cash offices at Highbridge's Alpha House, cutting off the grant to Brean Parish Council for beach cleaning, and scrapping the position of town centre manager to plug the shortfall.

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