Shrewsbury Town Councillors have reinforced their commitment to retaining the Quarry swimming pool within the town centre.
Members have reiterated their concerns regarding the baths moving out of town as part of an overall response to Shropshire Council’s Sports Facilities Strategy, which is currently out for public consultation.
Shropshire Council says the aim of the strategy is to provide sufficient high-quality, fit for purpose and accessible facilities for local residents, to enable the public to continue to benefit from sport, leisure, and health and fitness activities.
However, Shrewsbury Town Councillors have unanimously endorsed a report from Town Clerk, Helen Ball, which says the strategy appears “largely to be a justification for the relocation of swimming facilities in Shrewsbury to the Shrewsbury Sports Village.”
A formal response to the consultation criticises the 120-page document for being flawed in both its content and presentation.
“The strategy remains wanting on detail, there are significant typographical errors and inconsistencies which suggests a document that has been ill-thought out and rushed and due to the lack of stakeholder engagement in its construction one that’s real reason for collation is questionable,” it says.
The Town Council has also raised concerns regarding some of the claims made within the document.
“It stresses on a number of occasions that an out of town location will ‘provide increased opportunities for community participation’ but it fails to say how.”
Alan Mosley, Leader of the Council said: “Shropshire Council received 2,000 responses during a so-called consultation on the future of the swimming baths. They rejected the views of the 68 per cent who supported the retention of facilities in the Quarry. In fact they decided to relocate the baths to the Sports Village, an option which was supported by only 16 per cent. It beggars belief that they are now again seeking another so-called consultation, having not listened to the overwhelming response to the previous effort.”
Shropshire Council’s Sports Facilities Strategy can be viewed at new.shropshire.gov.uk/get-involved/draft-sports-facilities-strategy-2016-2037/
Members of the public can have their say on the strategy by sending comments to facilitiesstrategy@shropshire.gov.uk by September 30.
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