Decision details

A review of the technical, practical and cost considerations of including warm water pools within planned leisure centre refurbishments and what reasonable adjustments can be made to accommodate the needs identified by the Warm Water Swimming group.

The Cabinet Member agrees:

1)  That the Council provide teaching pools at both facilities, with warmer water (30-32 °c), than the main pool at a depth of 0.9 – 1m which is the standard depth and temperature for a pool of this type.  These pools to be designed in partnership with Sport England to ensure they meet the accessibility guidelines as far as reasonably practical within the constraints of a refurbishment.

2)  That the provision of these facilities constitutes a reasonable adjustment based upon the respective needs of the core user and the needs identified by the WWISE group while maximising the use for all users and minimising the risks to safety of users, capital and revenue impacts and deterioration of premises that operating a permanent dedicated warm water facility would entail.

The Council has carefully considered what reasonable adjustments it can make to accommodate the needs (and proposed schemes) identified by the WWISE group. In considering what adjustments are reasonable for the Council to make, officers have considered the users of the facility and how many would require warmer water and a greater depth, the impact this would have on current and potential users, the costs and practicality of providing these facilities and have concluded that they are not a reasonable adjustment.  The technical, practical and financial challenges of providing this type of facility within a refurbishment project make it unviable.

·  Including warm water pools in Bath Sports Centre as  the WWISE proposals with movable floors to allow for children’s swimming lessons

·  Division of main pool in Bath Sports Centre into 2 smaller pools one of which would be warm water with a movable floor

·  Converting the leisure pool to 2 warm water pools, one of which is 1.5m (5ft) deep with a movable floor to allow for other uses within the pool.

·  Adding an extension to the proposed teaching pool to create additional warm water space at a depth of 1.38m (4’6”) including a movable floor to allow for other uses within the pool.

·  Making the teaching pool at Keynsham 1.3m deep and including a movable floor to allow for children’s swimming lessons.

·  The cabinet member also considered a further suggestion from WWISE submitted on 08.03.17. Option 2 (2) would likely cost in the region of £667K with a further significant risk in disturbing the pool tank estimated to be in excess of £150K. In addition there were revenue implications in terms of reduced income, additional staffing etc. This was not considered to be a viable option or a reasonable adjustment.

·  These options were not taken forward for the reasons described in the report