Council in line for pool windfall

Council in line for pool windfall

20 May 2015

NEW swimming lesson charges planned for Down Leisure Centre stand to net Newry, Mourne and Down Council over £34,000 in additional income.

Controversial plans to reduce the number of private lessons at the leisure centre coupled with a huge hike in fees look likely to be voted through by councillors when they meet early next month.

There has been significant opposition to the council’s plans which will mean an end to private tutors holding group swimming lessons which the council says will be provided by its own instructors.

The private tutors will be allowed to take one-to-one lessons in the leisure centre, but the charges will rise significantly for each person availing of these private lessons.

At present private lessons at the leisure centre earn the council £3,000 per year but under the new rules the local authority will earn over £37,400 provided the number of lessons stays the same.

However, another development in this long-running saga is sounding alarms bells among opponents to plans to impose changes at the Down Leisure Centre.

Exactly the same changes were introduced in the new Newry Leisure Centre last year, also to huge public outcry from parents. However, parents were also assured that the council’s swimming programme would be able to pick up the slack left by the axing of private lessons.

But last week a local parent discovered there is now a huge waiting list at Newry Leisure Centre of 577 children who are waiting to access the council’s swimming programme.

Colin Masters, who has been swimming at Newry pool with his three children for years, said in a letter to councillors that he has grave concern for the state of services in Newry Leisure Centre.

“While I realise that there are far more pressing issues, there is a democratic imperative on all of you as the elected representatives of this council to ensure that the local people are receiving a fair and balanced provision of services,” he said.

“By continuing to prevent private individuals to provide services over and above that which the council cannot provide is putting the lives of children at risk and is actually reducing the available customer base for the leisure centre.

“The argument that public services should be delivered by public bodies alone is a weak one, at best, and a poor cover story at worst,” he continued. “If indeed there is room for everyone at the new facility, allow these private instructors access once again and increase the amount of capable and confident swimmers who can purchase tickets into the new facility for many years to come.”

At Monday’s committee meeting, council officials said they had looked at the financial and equality implications of the price rise for residents living in the Down area as requested by councillor McGrath but did not see anything to prevent the proposals going forward. They said having one pricing structure across the new council area would provide “consistency and transparency” for all customers.

They said that an ‘equality screening’ process had taken place but that a full equality impact assessment was not considered necessary.

Council officials also indicated they had met with a couple of parents and tutors to discuss the issue but that several of those invited did not attend.

Sinn Fein’s Valerie Harte and Liz Kimmins proposed and seconded the council’s original decision to proceed with the price rise but were outvoted.

The SDLP’s Laura Devlin said there were issues around administration, the new booking system and the impact on children with disabilities to be examined.

“There is a lot of misinformation out there,” she said. “This is a massive issue. I know we want as a council to make money but this affects some of the most vulnerable people in our district.”

Councillor Cadogan Enright argued that there was a “significant” difference in the quality between some private and council run lessons.

Councillor Billy Walker said it was “not enough” for the council to have met with a couple of parents and tutors to discuss the issue and queried the notice time given for the meeting. He said the most vulnerable would be affected by the price rise, including autistic children who travelled 

especially to the Downpatrick swimming pool because of their private lessons.

SDLP councillor Michael Carr agreed that parents and tutors were unsure of how the new system would work. 

“The clarity is not there for people,” he said.