Coventry Council has been awarded a share of the Swimming Pool Support Fund, but is it enough?
Amid the cost of living crisis, many of Coventry's businesses have shut down. Leisure sites have already been struggling before the cost of living crisis due to funding cuts from local governments and not fully recovering from the COVID pandemic. Since 2019, eighty-five swimming pools across England have closed and not been reopened or replaced, with hundreds being closed since 2010. In 2019 it was estimated that 1,800 pools would close by 2030 as centres are becoming older and more expensive to upgrade and fix and tend to have a very high energy consumption.
Credit: Instagram @thewavecov
The gradually increasing number of pool closings has been primarily due to the soaring energy bills and operational costs and causes concerns for the future of many leisure centres placing thousands of jobs at risk. To reduce running costs some swimming pools are having to reduce the heat of their water due to the soaring energy costs, cut down on social activities and are having reduced weekend opening hours. It is feared that energy bills could be the thing that will lose several more of the sites.
Coventry City Council and CV Life have been awarded £216,000 following a partnership bid for a share of Sport England’s Swimming Pool Support Fund. Across England, £ 20 million was available for local councils, where Coventry was among 103 places to receive funding out of 317 local authorities, targeting centres in England that have the highest risk of closure due to increased cost pressures. The £20m funding comes from a government pot that is in place to assist with the increased operation costs and to help sustainability at leisure sites. The fund was put in place to give local people the opportunity to hopefully become more active by the year of 2030.
The Wave in Coventry received more than £108,000 to keep its indoor waterpark running. The awarded £216,000 is said to go towards helping to support the utility costs of the swimming pools at The Wave and Xcel Leisure Centre.
Over the next few months, a further £40m will be distributed to help improve the energy efficiency of these public facilities for the long term, successful applicants to receive a share of that fund will be notified by the end of January 2024. Sport England hopes that the fund will minimize the closure of swimming pools by reducing energy consumption levels, including the funding of new heating systems.
Cabinet member for public health and sport, Cllr Kamran Caan has said: “The funding will help the public leisure operator with contribution to the energy costs and chlorine costs that are used to operate the sites. This helps to reduce the cost of the facility operationally as we are seeing swimming pools across the country struggle with the increase of energy costs. It is great for local people as it enables us to ensure that the pools in Coventry are available for local people to access and allow them to use the GO CV card to access at a reduced rate.
The swimming pool support fund provides a total of £60 million to local authorities in England as a support package for public leisure facilities with swimming pools, alongside Coventry, swimming pools in Birmingham, Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Warwick are also some of the places to receive the fund.
Credit: https://thewavecoventry.com/ride/the-lazy-river/
In a press statement director of operations at CV Life, Steve Wiles said: “We’re thrilled to have been awarded this vital funding and I’m pleased we’ve been able to work together with the council on a successful application. With the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis, it’s been a difficult few years for everyone. Like our members, our venues have felt the financial toll these issues have taken. So this funding will help us to keep providing the same services to the people of Coventry without a detriment to quality. We take pride in making swimming accessible to everyone and we’re passionate about getting Coventry active, so it will go a long way in helping us deliver our goals.”
However, the goal to get the people of Coventry active may still be difficult. As a result of the cost-of-living crisis, swimming is not accessible to everyone. Many people cannot afford to go to the leisure centres provided in their cities and towns.
In Coventry, standard tickets at The Wave are £17 for an adult, £12.50 for a junior or £52 for a family ticket. Although a GoCV card offers a reduced rate of ticket prices, adult tickets are still quite highly priced with an adult ticket being £15, a child £10 and a family ticket £42.50.
Credit: Tripadvisor
When asked the public has mixed opinions on the prices to visit the indoor water park. 6 out of 10 people said that it costs too much to visit the park, with the rest predominantly believing it is quite pricey but for the occasional trip to get their young ones out of the house. 5 out of 10 also said that they would like to go if there was a cheaper alternative to visit.
Single mum of two Vanessa Morris a Coventry local says “I struggle enough with current energy costs and a weekly shop, to go with my two children to The Wave it would cost me £35 and I just cannot afford that” she goes on to say “I would love to take the kids as I am sure it would be a fun day out of the house but right now it is just too unrealistic with the current cost crisis”.
Grandparents Mary and William Davies said “We don’t mind paying those prices occasionally to get the grandkids out and away from causing havoc, though it is understandable that some people may choose not to, everyone has priorities which is why we only choose to do activities like that occasionally. It might be smart of them to offer some kind of scheme or event to bring more people in who may not always be able to afford it such as cheaper evening tickets for kids to go to after school.”
Although the Swimming Pool Support Fund is set to help with keeping these leisure centres around for a while, with rising energy costs and a lack of people visiting the parks, it can be questioned if the fund is enough to keep the sites around for the long future.