Councils pledge £60,000 towards Bridgnorth swimming pool repairs

Bridgnorth Town Council agreed at its meeting on Tuesday to donate £30,000 to Bridgnorth Endowed Leisure Centre, on the condition that Shropshire Council matches the funds- which leaves £10,000 for the community to raise.

The town has been without a community swimming pool since September after structural issues were discovered when builders were completing an unrelated changing room refurbishment.

The school took over the centre, including the pool which was built in the 1970s, from Shropshire Council 18 months ago.

Chairman of governors at the school, Mark Freathy, said at the meeting that if the funds are not raised in the next six weeks- when the contractors currently on-site will be leaving- then the repair bill will be considerably more as they will have to be called back on-site.

Mr Freathy said: "The school has the leisure centre as part of the site on our 125-year repairing lease.

"Builders started work on the wet changing rooms when trouble appeared- the steels that support the building's roof were perishing and in some cases had already perished.

"We were advised that high winds of heavy snowfall could bring the whole lot down- clearly this was a situation we couldn't live with.

"We found there was asbestos which cost £80,000 to get rid of.

"The total bill for the refurbishment and repairs came to £611,000. We have raised £541,000, leaving a shortfall of £70,000.

"Once the contractors leave it will cost us more to get them back then if we can keep them there."

The remaining £70,000 is needed to complete the refurbishment of the pool-side changing rooms.

Campaigner for Help Our Pool Bridgnorth, Nancy Brown, told councillors that at the moment there are no family changing facilities.

She added: "I have two children, a boy and a girl, am I expected to let the boy go off into the men's changing rooms on his own? This is completely unacceptable."

Shropshire Councillor for Bridgnorth West and Tasley, Elliott Lynch, said at the meeting that Shropshire Council will match fund Bridgnorth Town Council in a donation towards the repairs up to £30,000.

Councillor Sarah Stevens said: "We should step up and support this, I'm all for it. I'm sure we can find the money somewhere."

The councillors voted unanimously to donate £30,000 towards the repairs and refurbishment of the pool, on the condition that Shropshire Council matches the donation.

Mayor Ron Whittle said he will be donating half of his mayor's allowance for the year to the swimming pool appeal.

The pool is due to reopen to the public on July 8.

For more information search Help Our Pool Bridgnorth on Facebook, or visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Bridgnorthpool