Public Meeting Recommendation c) no new swimming pool provision - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Want a Swimming Pool in the Black Isle? Public Meeting Recommendation c) no new swimming pool provision requiring financial support from the Council is brought forward as a priority in the next five years. Report by the Director of
“Recommendation c) no new swimming pool provision requiring financial support from the Council is brought forward as a priority in the next five years.”
Report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport to ECS Committee, 13 November 2008
Doctors' Surgery, Black Isle Leisure Centre, Fortrose & Rosemarkie Golf Club, Chemists Shop, Black Isle Farm Shop
Indicative survey clusters
Fortrose & Rosemarkie Avoch Munlochy BI North
BI West
North Kessock
Cromarty
A total of 710 completed survey forms were returned (24% of those distributed). The breakdown of returns by Post Code Area is shown in the charts above
The predominant frequency of current swimming habits was once a week (30%), with daily being the most infrequent (3%).
44 respondents made a range of other specific comments about their swimming habits. These included: „swim more during school holidays‟, „swimming on holiday‟, „infrequently or rarely‟, never (due to transport difficulties), and „when time permits‟. Once a week (30%)
Every couple
(16%)
Once a month (14%)
Every couple
(10%)
Once a fort- night (10%)
Every 6 months (7%) Other (6%) Once a year (4%) Daily (3%)
1,021 respondents indicated their current most frequently visited swimming pool
110 respondents made a range of other specific comments about where they went swimming. These included: „private health clubs‟, „hotel pools‟, „hotel pools and leisure centres when on holiday‟, „swimming pools in Aviemore, Elgin, Forres, Fort William, Golspie, Nairn and Ullapool‟, „Puffin Pool‟, and „rivers and lochs‟. Inverness Leisure (42%) Dingwall Leisure Centre (25%) Other (11%)
below
Beach / Sea (10%) Invergordon Leisure Centre (8%)
Culloden Academy (2%)
Alness Swimming Pool (2%)
Car 81% Bus 10% Walking 3% Bicycle 2%% Shared Transport 2% School Transport 1%
701 respondents indicated their most frequently used form of transport to go swimming. 58 respondents indicated where they had come from to go swimming, with the majority travelling either from work or from shopping, followed by from another leisure pursuit and finally from school.
– too far to travel (59%), – no time (20%), – not able to swim (14%) – too expensive (7%).
– 69% said that they would think about learning to swim, – 21% said that they might consider it – and 10% said that they would not.
700 respondents indicated whether or not they would support the creation of a swimming pool in the Black Isle. 98% said yes, the majority for the purposes of leisure and recreation / health and
Leisure / Recreation (25%) Health (20%) General wellbeing (19%) Afford- ability (12%) Sport Swimming (12%) Tourism / Visitors (10%)
Other (2%)
There were a total of 3,776 responses to what swim-based activities people would like to see at a new Black Isle Swimming Pool. These were fairly evenly spread:
Recreation / Sport (14%) Swimming Lessons (14%) School Classes (13%) Health / Exercise (13%) Aerobics (12%) Young People‟s Programme (12%) Seniors Programme (11%) Different Needs Programme (10%) Other (1%)
– ‘galas and competitions’, ‘flumes v’s no flumes’, ‘school lunch time club’, ‘swimming club’, ‘lane swimming’, ‘family sessions’, ‘OAP swimming lessons’, ‘women only sessions’, – ‘health rehabilitation programmes/medical referrals’, ‘assisted swimming for the disabled’, ‘special needs exercise sessions’, ‘pregnant women sessions’, ‘post cancer exercise sessions’, – ‘kids play pool/area’, ‘a crèche (or in Leisure Centre)’, ‘Jacuzzi’, ‘canoeing, kayak and sub-aqua lessons’, ‘life-saving courses’, ‘water polo’, ‘swimming party’, and – ‘to ensure an appropriate balance between school, lessons, clubs and general public use’.
Car 24% Walking 16% Cycling 13% Bus 11% Shared Transport 10% Running/ Jogging 7% School Transport 7% Motorbike/ Scooter 6% Mini-bus 6%
made a range of
comments about the proposal for a Black Isle Swimming
supportive of the idea and the chart
summarises the flavour of that support and also some of the challenges and doubts expressed:
Annual running costs / subsidies for existing community and Council swimming pools and leisure centres (2007/8) Community Pools in Highland Ullaspool £89,985 Mallaig £87,962 Lochalsh LC £52,930 Poolewe £22,451, plus cost of manager supplied by HC Bettyhill £42,657 Black Isle £56,000 (estimated) Highland Council-owned and or operated Leisure Centres (Pool plus leisure facilities where appropriate) Black Isle Leisure Centre £115,691 Lochaber Leisure Centre £321,444 Dingwall Leisure Centre £187,353 Invergordon Leisure Centre £209 697 Gairloch Leisure Centre £75,136 Badenoch Leisure Centre £142,442 Craig MacLean Centre (Grantown) £78,756 (community use subsidy) Nairn Swimming Pool £323,421 Swimming Pools Portree High School £150, 084 Sutherland Swimming Pool, Golspie £192,435(budget figure- closed most of year) Thurso Pool £248 275 Wick Pool £256,080 Alness Pool £55,611 (community use subsidy) Tain Royal Academy £17,438 (Community use subsidy) Culloden Community Complex £4,177 (Community use subsidy) NB It is not possible to make exact comparisons, but these figures give an indication of subsidies involved. (Source: Highland Council September 2008)
FIRST COMPARISON ANALYSIS YEAR +10%
Entrance fees – Public Use £120,000 132,000 108,000 Entrance fees – Schools (survey shows that 93% of responding parents would pay £3/lesson) 40,000 44,000 36,000 Revenue Grant 56,000 56,000 56,000 Income from visitors 20,000 22,000 18,000 Total Revenue Income £236,000 £254,000 £218,000 Expenses Wages & Salaries £125,000 137,500 £112,500 Insurance 3,500 3,850 3,500 Heat & Light (including Oil) 19,000 20,900 19,000 Water Charges 7,500 8,250 7,500 Maintenance, Chemicals& Service Contracts 18,000 19,800 18,000 Laundry and Cleaning Materials 2,500 2,750 2,500 Telephone 500 550 500 Printing, Stationery & Advertising 2,500 2,750 2,500 General Expenses 3,000 3,300 3,000 Bank Interest 1,600 1,760 1,600 Training Courses 5,000 5,500 5,000 Depreciation/Amortisation Fund 20,000 20,000 20,000 Non Recoverable VAT 18,000 19,800 16,200 £226,10 £246,710 £211,800 Net Profit/Loss (-) for year £9,900 £7,290 £6,200 #( for ongoing maintenance and renewals)
walking and the 20 minute vehicular travel catchment of an existing facility, then the area of greatest unmet demand is the Eastern Black Isle, including the settlements of Cromarty, Fortrose, Newhall and Avoch. Some parts of the Fortrose ILC lie within the vehicular catchment area of other pools, including Dingwall, Inverness and Alness. A sportscotland study of likely throughput at a Fortrose Pool, taking into account both national and user statistics in Highland, suggests 25,000 per year, which would be greater than pools in Alness and Tain, and similar to that at Ullaspool.”
– virtually all the Fortrose catchment area is actually outside the 20 minutes drive time to a pool so that is a pretty good case for a Black Isle Pool.
be in the ILC that is the most remote from existing provision, and is therefore the most disadvantaged. Ardnamurchan and Kinlochbervie ILCs could claim this. Ardnamurchan ILC, has a higher population overall, though the settlement of Kinlochbervie is slightly larger than Strontian, and the walking catchment has an effect on attendance. The subsidy per person for swimming provision in remote areas would clearly be high, but Highland Council generally upholds the principal that people should not be denied services because of rurality issues, whenever practicable.”
– Does it have to be one or the other? What demand is there in Kinlochbervie or Strontian? Has anyone done any research on this? And we in the eastern Black Isle are effectively denied swimming because of rurality issues.
“The choice for Members comes down to:
Surely YES!
circumstances of the Council, or be justified in terms of being a priority compared to other demands for services faced by the Council. The question is, why is a BISP given no priority at all? There isn’t any discussion of the pros or cons of the Black Isle pool despite funding the business plan, so how can councillors make any decision on the basis of the information supplied?
highest potential throughput, the highest potential throughput out-with Inverness, or the community, even if relatively small, that is currently most disadvantaged in terms of accessing swimming provision. Surely there are other factors to take into account in terms of clear community and environmental benefits, and meeting the sportscotland standards?
provision should affect decisions about developing additional provision, or the location of any facility.” The obvious answer should be YES. But this looks suspiciously like a coded version of ‘whether the council should give in to vociferous lobby groups’ i.e. reject the BISP precisely because it has campaigned so hard, or, if it isn’t a Highland Council initiative, squash it. Or is that unfair? It is very, very odd that given the huge efforts made over the years and the enormous local support for a BISP, we just don’t make it onto the priority list. Why not? Surely the Council have to at least address the issues raised in their own