“Public swimming pools are vitally important to the health of our communities and in teaching people how to swim, so this extra funding will be a lifeline in keeping them open."
Responding to the launch of the Government’s £60 million Swimming Pool Support Fund to help public pools with increased cost pressures and investment to improve their energy efficiency, Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, said:
“Public swimming pools are vitally important to the health of our communities and in teaching people how to swim, so this extra funding will be a lifeline in keeping them open.
“Councils and pool operators have worked hard in the face of rising energy costs and have been warning that without investment, we would have seen a large number of closures.
“There remains a continuing challenge in keeping our much-loved public swimming pools open and we need a long-term strategy to match it, including the need to transform our pools to an energy efficient, sustainable future.
“In the meantime, councils and operators continue to do everything they can to keep pools open and adapt existing facilities to be as energy efficient as possible.”