Wycombe councillors should be ashamed for pulling the plug

12:42pm Friday 3rd July 2009

By Steve Cohen

AS Wycombe councillors skipped out into the blazing sunshine this week, I wonder if they remembered the words written in this column in January 2009.

For their benefit, I will repeat the opening paragraph: “If councillors go ahead and close our historic outdoor swimming pool, it will be one of the biggest mistakes they ever make on our behalf.”

In conclusion, I added: “We won’t really realise the value of Holywell Mead until it’s gone. The pool in the park will pass into the town’s folklore and I guarantee residents will bemoan its loss for generations.”

Naturally, my warnings floated away in the January breeze. I reckon many councillors treat the views in this column as the ramblings of the village idiot.

They, of course, always know better when it comes to amenities and finances, and the savings of £45,000 per year in running costs – plus a further £60k refurbishment work – just had to be made.

Especially since so few people used the outdoor pool on The Rye because it’s only open 13 weeks a year and because it is only of use when the sun shines and because there surely could be a much more inclusive community facility for the park and because... because...

You can tell I’m bored with the becauses. We kept this pool going for 50 years, through the lean and the good times, and this present lot of councillors should be ashamed that they were the ones who pulled the plug.

Except they won’t be, because they know better than me and you, and they need to save the money because times are hard, guv.

So I wonder what they will be saying to their constituents and friends during this heatwave when many of you would kill to rip off your clothes and dive into an open air pool. I assume they will suck in their teeth and say it’s still an expensive fringe acitivity and that there are three other community pools in the district that residents can go to.

Fair enough and I do go regularly to the pool at Handy Cross. However, I happened to be wandering through Amersham on Sunday, as you do, and spied the pool in the town. And I wondered why I didn’t go there instead.

Because as it was Sunday, parking in the next door car park was free. There were no parking meters, no annoying wardens hovering about, no small change to find. More importantly, it was free for kids – as well as over 60s – to swim under the Government-backed scheme which Chiltern and South Bucks councils have taken advantage of.

Wycombe turned down the free swim grants after the council did its sums and worked out the district would actually lose cash overall as a result because its main income comes from these age groups.

I don’t dispute the logic or the sums. But, even in a recession, it’s not all about money.

Councils don’t exist just to balance the books; they are here to enhance our lives and our districts.

And I’m not anti-Wycombe District Council. Despite everything that’s happened, it’s generally a well-run authority with lots going for it.

But let’s look at what’s happening in High Wycombe at the moment. This week, we learnt that the town’s local radio station is closing after 16 years. This year, the hospital will lose its inpatient mothers and children’s wards – meaning most women will have to go to Aylesbury just to give birth.

Businesses are closing and people are struggling. There are fewer and fewer reasons to be proud of High Wycombe these days.

So you would hope that our councillors would step in to try to lift the gloom. Instead, they have added to it and left an empty useless historic building in the middle of our flagship park.

I’m not one to cut off my nose to spite my face, but as I stood in Amersham on Sunday I seriously wondered if I should take my weekly swimming sessions there instead. I go with friends who have kids and, even after the petrol costs, we might save cash from the parking and free sessions.

I won’t do it because I’m loyal to Wycombe and Handy Cross. But how loyal are they to us?

I believe there is a desire among some councillors to help the growing campaign to rescue Holywell Mead and have it ready for next year.

It’s too late for this year and councillors have a long hot summer during which to reflect on their decision.

Star readers campaigned vigorously and apparently in vain to save the outdoor pool. But I’d like to think the Fat Lady hasn’t sung yet as far as Holywell Mead is concerned.

Because if she does, there will be a legacy of fat ladies and fat men all unhealthily wobbling about as a result of the lack of support for swimming in the Wycombe district.