We’re pleased to confirm that the Council has been awarded £20,499 from the government’s Swimming Pool Support Fund. This fund is intended to help existing publicly owned leisure facilities with swimming pools to alleviate financial pressures associated with recent rises in energy and operating costs.
Applicant authorities were assessed against a range of criteria including the following:
- the risk of closure or significant service reduction facing their swimming pool facility
- proximity to other swimming pools providing public swimming
- the level of demand for the facility
The Swimming Pool Support Fund is worth £60.3 million in total. This amount is split into 2 phases. The Council’s award has been made as part of Phase 1. The Council has also submitted an application to Phase 2 of the fund which will provide capital investments to help swimming pools become more energy efficient. We await the outcome of our application for Phase 2, which is expected in the new year.
Cllr Tim Dean, Lead Member for Housing and Corporate Estate said: “This funding is extremely welcome at a time when rising costs are making it increasingly difficult to operate swimming pools across the country. As the only publicly owned swimming pool on the islands, Normandy Pool is a vital resource for our community which positively contributes to health and wellbeing on the islands and enables those learning to swim to do so safely.
This funding is for existing pools only. It does not affect our Corporate Plan objective to assess whether a new community swimming pool could be provided in the future, but it does enable us to maintain the current facility in the short term whilst these assessments are being made.”
Further information
You can find out more about the Swimming Pool Support Fund on the Sport England website.
You can read government's latest sports strategy, which aims to build a healthier nation by tackling high levels of inactivity, and make sure that the sport and physical activity sector thrives for future generations, on the gov.uk website.
