Sunday 22 May 2016

New School, No Pool

Gareth Ratcliffe has posted a letter on Facebook about the building of a new Hay School, and the future of the swimming pool which is in the present school.
Basically, it seems that the swimming pool doesn't have a future. There are no plans to include a pool in the new school buildings. Gareth was told this by the school - not the County Council (which he might have expected, being a county councillor).
Apparently, though, if the main entrance to the new school comes off the car park (as it is now) rather than Forest Road, this would bring the cost down enough to include a new pool.
The school pool has already been transferred from County Council control to local control, so the County Council can save money, and the local people running the pool have turned a £50,000 loss under the County Council into a surplus, so they can invest in the pool.
Teaching children to swim is a compulsary part of school life, and the next nearest pool is in Brecon, so retaining the pool, in a big, spread out county with a low population, is pretty important.
Gareth finishes his letter by saying:
"As local member I am consistently frustrated at Powys County Councils neglect of my community we have had to fight to keep services and run them ourselves and when we make them a success officers and lead members seem to want to punish us for succeeding where they can’t."

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