68 per cent want Shrewsbury's Quarry pool to stay put
A proposal to move a swimming pool from its town centre location remains under consideration despite more than two thirds of people wanting it to stay where it is.
Shropshire Council said 68 per cent of people want Shrewsbury's swimming pool to remain at The Quarry.
The authority has announced the results of its five month consultation on the pool, revealing that 68 per cent of the 1,924 people who responded favoured retaining a pool at the current Quarry site.
A proposal to move the pool to Shrewsbury Sports Village in Sundorne, which has been criticised by councillors, businesses, and The Quarry Swimming and Fitness Forum, was preferred by only 16 per cent of those who responded.
The Quarry respondents were split between three options for the site - 22 per cent for a new build, 23 per cent for a refurbishment, and 21 per cent for a more considerable upgrade.
George Candler, the council's director of commissioning, said the public view would be taken into account but would not rule out other options.
He said: "The results speak for themselves. At the moment there is a high proportion of people who want to keep it where it is, but none of those three options provide the same level of initial savings the other options do, and as a local authority at these difficult times we have to factor in a range of considerations, but finance is not the only one."
Councillor Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council's deputy leader and cabinet member responsible for leisure services said that the authority will now be looking to appoint a company to carry out further analysis on the consultation responses.
A selection of preferred options will then be considered by Shropshire Council's cabinet in spring, with a final option expected to be confirmed by the end of the year.
