THE pool at Meadowlands is currently in a building owned by the borough council but on land leased from Tavistock Town Council. The day to day operation has been contracted out by the borough council to a company called Leisure in the Community. The current contract ends in late 2016.

The cost of running the pool is not fully covered by the income from users and the borough council subsidises it to the tune of around £150,000 per year which comes directly from council tax-payers throughout West Devon. 

Many municipal stand-alone pools run at a loss as they are very expensive to operate and maintenance costs are extremely high.

The profitable pools usually have other facilities on site and serve large urban areas.

The borough council along with all other local authorities is subject to a substantial reduction in funding from central government and is having to make some significant cuts in services and reduce staff numbers.

Against this background, the council cannot continue to subsidise the Meadowlands pool at the current level beyond 2016 without reducing or even cutting other services.

When the contract comes up for renewal in 2016 the effects of inflation and the increasing age of the building will mean that the costs to the council are likely to rise still further making the situation considerably worse than it already is.

Under the terms of the contract, the council retains responsibility for the maintenance and replacement of most of the major items of plant and equipment together with the structure of the building.

An estimate suggests that the building and equipment will require expenditure well in excess of £1 million over the next 10 years.

The council does not have any financial reserves to tap into to fund the majority of this essential work.

If a major item of plant were to fail the council may have no choice but to simply close the pool.

The council is keen to ensure a swimming facility open to the public is available in Tavistock for the foreseeable future so it has started examining a range of options to allow this to happen. The proposed Olympic Legacy Pool, which is being supported by Sport England, is just one of the options being looked at and discussions are ongoing.

No decisions have been made and the council is keen to hear any innovative ideas regarding the future use of Meadowlands or how we can ensure that public swimming continues in the borough.

There will be a formal public consultation before any significant changes are made and the whole council will be able to vote on the issue.

If anyone would like to share their ideas at this stage please email the website at [email protected]">[email protected] call 01822 813600.

Cllr Philip Sanders

Leader

West Devon Borough Council

I WOULD like to take this opportunity to remind West Devon borough councillors and residents of Tavistock about the background of the Meadowlands complex.

In the late eighties, Tavistock Town Council granted a long lease to West Devon Borough Council for the Wharf and Meadowlands area.

After a short period of consultation, the design for the provision of the pool was debated but it was made very clear to everyone that the main funding was a European grant and to access this we had to agree to their demands of what was being created to replace the much- loved and well-used open air pool that existed at top of Bannewell Street.

The main criteria that it was being provided to encourage tourism for the local area and create employment.

It therefore had to be a leisure pool with the outside facilities which meant a shaped pool with no provision for competitions or tiered viewing areas.  After much lobbying and a heated debate in the council chamber, it was eventually agreed that the swimming area would be made wider and long enough to enable four lanes to be created. It was to be all one depth, no diving provision and hence it became 'the leisure puddle'.

Despite all the various constraints, with the help of many volunteers and keen swimmers, the local swimming club was formed and it has gone from strength to strength.

Without their success and involvement, the finances of the pool would have been dire.

Hundreds of children and many adults in the West Devon area have learned to swim and be safe in a county bordered by two coasts.

Right from the beginning we said this pool would be a drain on council tax payers.

We fought for a simple design which Okehampton later achieved which included a gym (which we never got); but no, it was European money and had to be spent to achieve what they wanted.

There has to be some way that this facility is maintained for the purpose that it was created, or if not maybe the EU would like to have their facility back or their grant!  

 Judith Williams

Tavistock