''It's not just a pool, it's everything to people": Swimming club chairman vows campaign to save Ashton Pool
19.07.2023 - 16:35
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
“It’s not just a pool, it’s everything to people.”
So says the chairman of Ashton Swimming Club, Steve Shilley, ahead of the impending closure of Ashton Pool – the leisure centre where the club, founded in 1895, has been based for decades.
Active Tameside, the trust that runs all the borough’s public leisure facilities, has announced the closure of the Active Ashton site, along with its Active Etherow and Active Longdendale facilities in September.
Active Ashton has two swimming pools and a gym, Adventure Longdendale contains a trampoline park, laser zone and soft play area for children, and Active Etherow is the trust’s dedicated indoor bowling centre.
The charity says that the huge increase in energy bills has taken the cost of utilities at its sites up to £2 million a year. The situation has been worsened by price rises for products such as chemicals, insurance and the cost of staff.
Tameside council, which owns the buildings, insists the state of its finances also means it cannot afford to pick up the bill and rescue the sites.
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The two MPs whose constituencies cover the affected areas, Angela Rayner and Jonathan Reynolds, say that while the news ‘disappointing’, there is ‘no other option’.
However users of the sites, especially at Ashton Pool, have been vocal in their unhappiness at the announcement, with many saying it will adversely affect people who swim locally for their physical and mental health.
A petition calling on the council to save Active Ashton has been signed by more than 4,200 people.
And Mr Shilley, who has been teaching at Ashton Pool since 1974, says they will not take the news lying down.
“We are still