Lancaster City Council will continue to run three community pools following the outcome of successful talks with Lancashire County Council.
As we reported last week, the decision comes after positive discussions between the two councils over the last year about ways they can share a number of services. This has released enough funds to allow the city council to continue running the pools.
Lancashire County Council owns pools next to schools in Hornby, Carnforth and Heysham but they are managed by Lancaster City Council and in 2010 were subsidised to the tune of £155,000. The pools are mainly used to provide swimming for schools and swimming clubs.
As a meeting last January, the city council’s Cabinet agreed to give the county council 12 months notice to end the partnership — but following that decision both authorities agreed to work together to explore options with a view to finding a way to ensure that the community pools could remain open for the benefit of local residents under the management of the city council.
“From day one we’ve always said that we wanted to see the community pools remain open,” expalins Coun Stuart Langhorn, leader of Lancaster City Council, “but it was clear that the cost of running them placed a great burden on the city council’s limited resources.
“Our colleagues at Lancashire County Council also recognised this and we have worked together to find the necessary funding to ensure that the city council is able to continue running them.”
“I’m delighted that local people will still be able to use these community pools,” adds County Councillor Geoff Driver, leader of Lancashire County Council. We’re very pleased that a solution has been found that helps both councils.
“It’s important in the current financial climate that councils make savings by considering new ways to fund services, including some closer working with the city council to deliver services for the people we serve.”