THE popular Meadowlands Leisure Pool in Tavistock is not expected to open until the end of November after maintenance issues forced its closure.

The pool closed on October 28 due to ‘major mechanical’ issues with its boilers, meaning it was unable to heat the swimming pool and therefore unable to be open to the public.

Mechanical engineers have conducted several site surveys to see how to return the boilers to full working condition and specialist flue engineers visited the site on Monday.

It was confirmed to the Times that the issues were due to a leak in one of the boiler flues and a new, bespoke flue had to be manufactured and fitted but it was unknown how long this would take.

On its website, pool operator 1Life has asked for people to check social media and its website for updates and has apologised for any inconvenience caused.

In an email to its members on Monday, October 31, the Meadowlands 1Life team said: ‘Unfortunately the centre’s gas boilers have experienced a major mechanical breakdown, which means we cannot heat the water in the swimming pool. Our mechanical engineers visited the centre over the weekend and are returning to conduct another site survey to tell us when we can re-open the pool.

‘The boilers at Meadowlands Swimming Pool are powered by gas and it is important that our engineers take the right steps to return the boilers to a full and safe working order, to ensure the health and safety of our customers.’

Some members of the public expressed concerns over the ‘lack of communication’ given by Meadowlands to its customers regarding the closure.

Meadowlands user Mandy Coles said: ‘I actually only found out by chance about the closure when I saw it being discussed in a Facebook post.

‘I had no communication from Meadowlands at all and had I not seen it in passing, I would have been stood outside at 8.30am with a three-year-old child, waiting.

‘Sadly that did happen to a lot of parents who then had to try to console upset children. Meadowlands did update its Facebook page but unless you actively use that page then it wouldn’t be seen. A lot of parents don’t use Facebook, hence several never saw it.

‘Eventually we received an email. Initially we were told that it was closed with no estimate of how long it would be closed for. Parents started phoning the pool for answers and were told it could be closed for up to three weeks. Once again this was spread via word of mouth until Meadowlands eventually decided to communicate with people via email.

‘There has been no update since then that I am aware of. I honestly find their lack of active communication completely unacceptable. While I appreciate that the breakdown of the boiler is out of their control, the way in which they communicate this information is very much something they could have chosen to do better.’

Meadowlands general manager Lauren Parker apologised to customers for the upset. She said:?‘We’re sorry to everyone for the inconvenience that has been caused. The staff at the site don’t email the customers, it is our head office that sends out emails to customers on the database.

‘Unfortunately I think there was a bit of a mix up where they sent the email to the wrong database, which is why the email came through later than we would have wanted. We were frustrated as well. We did our best to inform people through other lines of communication — phoned as many customers as we could, which took a long time, and updated our Facebook and Twitter pages as soon as we had any information.

‘There was a leak in the flue and a bespoke flue needs to be made because all plant set ups are different — they couldn’t just patch it up. The flue specialists have designed a new flue and have sent the drawings off to the manufacturer so now we are waiting on them to tell us how long it will take to make and install.’

Lauren said that members who pay by direct debit would be automatically refunded for the time the pool is closed.

The pool is owned by West Devon Borough Council. Leader of the council Cllr Philip Sanders said: ‘We are in regular communication with Meadowlands about the closure of the facility because we understand that this is an important asset for the community and its closure will impact a lot of people.

‘We are confident that 1Life, as the current contractor for the site, is doing everything that it can to get the pool open again as soon as possible. However, we understand that due to the nature of the issue, this may be longer than anyone would like.’

Keep updated on the pool’s website at www.1life.co.uk/west-devon-borough-council/meadowlands-leisure-pool/home/ or the Facebook page by searching ‘Meadowlands Leisure Pool’.