‘We want our learner swimming pool' - Ripon councillors call on North Yorkshire Council to build new facility for youngsters

Last year, Harrogate Borough Council opened a new leisure facility called the Jack Laugher Wellness Centre on Dallamires Lane to replace the city’s 116-year-old Spa Baths.

However, the project has been dogged with controversy due to spiralling costs that were related to concerns about sinkholes.

It’s estimated the current cost of the project is £18m – which is £8m over-budget.

The now-abolished council was also criticised for not building a smaller pool alongside the main pool.

It does offer swimming lessons through arms-length council leisure company Brimhams Active but they take place in the six-lane, 25-metre pool that is designed for adults and older children.

This means families have to take young children to Knaresborough, Harrogate or even further afield for swimming lessons.

At a meeting of Ripon City Council on Monday night, council leader Andrew Williams, who also sits on North Yorkshire Council as an independent, said Ripon City Council would be writing to the new authority asking it to commit to building a learner pool in the city.

He said: ”It’s a very sad fact that Harrogate Borough Council when considering building a new pool couldn’t find the £630,000 that was needed to provide Ripon with a learner pool, the same as children in Knaresborough and Harrogate have.

”Instead, we were told that this was unaffordable but they could find £8m to fund incompetence and overspend - I find that incredible.

"It’s just a sad record of Harrogate council’s inability to deliver anything properly.”

Parents who formed Ripon Pool Action Group have campaigned for a learner pool in the city for several years and last year published a survey that found there are over 1,000 children of pre-school age living in the Ripon area.

The survey suggested there was a demand for a learner pool with 63 per cent of parents saying they would swim with their children once a week if Ripon had one.

Councillor Pauline McHardy, who on Harrogate Borough Council was an outspoken critic of the leisure centre project in Ripon, said she backed the bid to build a learner pool.

She said: ”I raised this at Harrogate council and said it was disgusting they couldn’t find money for the learner pool.”

North Yorkshire Council has been approached for comment.