Report due on future of Shrewsbury pool

The authority is currently reviewing the findings of a consultation before presenting a report to the council's cabinet on July 6.

It is anticipated that the report will include recommendations on which of the seven possible options the council should pursue.

The subject has been listed for the authority's first meeting in July, with a report on the recommendations likely to be publicly available a week before.

A five-month consultation on the council's options concluded that 68 per cent of respondents wanted any pool to remain in Shrewsbury's town centre.

The pool is currently located at The Quarry Swimming and Fitness Centre. However, Councillor Malcolm Pate, leader of the authority, said that the ongoing costs of running the pool would be a major consideration in the decision over its future.

He said: "There are several aspects to coming to a conclusion – one is listening to what the consultation says and another is affordability and the need to generate revenue."

Seven different site options were put forward as part of the consultation including the refurbishment of the existing Quarry Pool, the renovation of the existing Quarry Pool and a new build on site of the existing Quarry Pool.

Other options were a new build on land at Clayton Way, a new build on land at Ellesmere Road, a new build on land at the Shrewsbury Sports Village and a new build on land at Shrewsbury College.

In the initial council projections Shrewsbury Sports Village was the only option predicted to run at a profit.

Councillor Pate said the authority needed to spend its capital on projects that would generate revenue for the authority.

He said: "It may be that we are prioritising our capital expenditure to generate revenue for the budget coming years.

"It may be that if there is a revenue case for it then we can talk about capital funding.

"What capital we have, we have to turn into revenue, it is a case of how that fits in with what the public want."