Towns' pools set to close (From Swindon Advertiser)

Towns' pools set to close

11:16am Friday 24th November 2006

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CRICKLADE and Wootton Bassett leisure centres are to close as the district council struggles to find an operator to take them over.

North Wiltshire District Council agreed on Thursday to close the two centres as well as a third in Calne, mothballing them while consultants work out how to sell them.

Operator North Wiltshire Leisure Limited is to submit a proposed recovery and business plan to the council for next year by the end of December but there is no more taxpayers' money coming to cover its operations.

Wootton Bassett Otters amateur swimming club chairman Tim Magness said without a home pool, the 330-strong group's future was "pretty bleak".

"Without a pool I don't know how the club can continue," Mr Magness said.

"I don't know how long we have got."

Mr Magness said the club was always looking for more hours in the pool, which it would pay for, but the council had knocked it back because the facility needed dedicated hours open to the public.

He said the club had not been given the chance to bid for more hours, something that could have improved the centre's financial performance.

Wootton Bassett Town and North Wiltshire District councillor Chris Wannell slammed the decision, saying it would rob children from 11 schools and hundreds of residents in the town of a valued community asset.

He said he expects the centres to close by Christmas and be mothballed until March.

He doubted an operator could be found in that short time and expects them to close permanently.

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