Keeping swimming pools warm doesn't come cheap, and swimmers fear pools could face closure without more government support for soaring energy bills.
It's feared up to half of the UK's community swimming pools could close or face cuts to services within the next six months without more government support to tackle crippling energy bills.
Olympian gold medallist Duncan Goodhew and the organisation Community Leisure UK have called for more help for local pools, after news the government's Energy Bill Relief Scheme for vulnerable businesses will exclude the sites from 1 April., with a recent report finding that nearly 400 pools had closed since 2010, thanks to council funding cuts and the pandemic.
CLUK head of policy, Jennifer Huygen, said pools are uniquely vulnerable to soaring costs because of their high energy bills to heat water and the buildings. "Coming out of COVID, we had a very slow recovery back to a stable financial footing and unfortunately what we're seeing now is utility bills increasing by three-fold for some leisure centres," she said.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced a £63m fund for pools, which Ms Huygen welcomed, but she stressed only £23m of that is for emergency support.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Good Morning Britain confirms new regular presenter alongside Susanna Reid'I can't wait to have him sitting next to me...'
Read more »
Martin Lewis officially signs up as regular host for Good Morning BritainMartin Lewis has finally signed on as a Good Morning Britain series regular 👏
Read more »
Martin Lewis confirmed as regular co-host on Good Morning BritainMoney Saving Expert founder and TV host Martin Lewis will become a regular co-host on ITV's Good Morning Britain alongside Susanna Reid, it has been confirmed
Read more »
How trio of Britain's biggest power firms are 'ripping off households'THREE of the UK’s biggest power firms have ripped off households by over half a billion pounds by gaming National Grid’s systems, it is claimed. Vitol VPI, Uniper and SSE have been manipulating the…
Read more »