The Southern Swimming Pool: What happens now?

We look back at the story so far, and discuss what might happen next

In a saga with more twists, turns and bumps than the Snaefell Mountain Course, the Southern Swimming Pool is going to remain open - for now.

But how did we get to this point? And what happens next for the Island's regional pools?

The story so far

On Thursday, 11 January we found out the Education, Sport and Culture Minister, Julie Edge, was going to recommend the Southern Swimming Pool be closed.

It followed the conclusion of a report - from the DESC and the Department of Infrastructure - which looked into the affordability of regional pools being part of regional sports hubs. 

The decision came as a surprise to many after a motion in Tynwald, passed last year, said that pool provision must be kept in the south until an alternative was provided.

It's for this reason the minister could only make the recommendation to close the pool - the final decision would have to go through the court.

However the minister's plans were revealed earlier than expected after they were shared with the media.

Ms Edge had intended for the announcement to come out on Monday 15 January, and that's when she chose to speak to Manx Radio:

In response to the announcement, all four the southern MHKs - Arbory, Castletown and Malew's Tim Glover and Jason Moorhouse and Rushen's Michelle Haywood and Juan Watterson - revealed they wouldn't support the Treasury Minister's Budget in February.

The MHKs said they'd only be appeased if there was sufficient support for the south of the Island included, and in particular, for the Southern Swimming Pool.

If all four had voted against the Pink Book, it would have been the highest number of members to reject a Budget in 30 years.

The report that led the minister preparing to take the recommendation to Tynwald was due to be published on the Monday, but wasn't made publicly available until Tuesday, 16 January.

It claimed the cost of running the Island's regional pools was going to rise too much for the government to continue supporting all of them.

Some of the predictions made included:

• Nearly £11 million would be needed over 30 years to make sure all of the pools are operational.

• The Southern Pool would need a £1 million investment just to keep running and that wouldn't include any improvements to the facility.

• Transferring the running of all four public pools into DESC's remit would streamline services and mean the Climate Change Fund could be used to try and make savings using renewable technology.

However, in an interview with Manx Radio, Ms Edge revealed her department hadn't fully assessed all the costs, including transporting children longer distances for their swimming lessons, or the impact that would have on school timetables:

Despite the report stating, "swimming pools are unlikely to operate at a profit, or break even, but it's the value they offer which should be recognised as the strategic outcome", it also said there was "no scenario" that would mean the DESC could continue operating all four public pools.

It therefore recommended the closure of the Southern Swimming Pool.

You can read the full report here.

Fast-forward two days and Rushen MHK Juan Watterson, who is also a qualified chartered accountant, told Manx Radio he'd come up with a scenario to pitch to the southern commissioners which would mean the DESC wouldn't have to find any extra money to run the pool:

On Thursday night, the local authorities in the south all agreed to go back to their respective boards and request they charge the full 6.1p in the pound to keep the pool open.

Then, at 5.30pm on Friday, 19 January, government announced a U-turn.

On the basis of the financial plan provided the DESC confirmed it would continue to provide financial support to enable the ongoing operation of the Southern Swimming Pool.

The minister - who still denies it was a U-turn - was also able to confirm definitively, that there will be a pool included in the plans for the new Castle Rushen High School:

Reaction

It's fair to say the plans to potentially close the pool didn't go down well:

Many people in Castletown told Manx Radio they didn't want to see the facility closed:

Even though government has now backtracked, and confirmed it will continue to support the Southern Pool, criticism towards Ms Edge hasn't eased.

In the House of Keys on Tuesday, 23 January, she was grilled by the southern MHKs in particular with Arbory, Castletown and Malew's Tim Glover even calling her position "untenable" and asking her to resign:

But Ms Edge was resolute in her response:

What happens at the Southern Pool now?

The financial plan is very much a "make do and mend" solution and won't cover the cost of any unforeseen circumstances or major repair work.

Chair of the pool board Laurence Vaughan-Williams says some of the cost-saving measures they've already taken should keep it operational until a new facility is ready:

So the Southern Pool is safe for now but there's every chance we could be having the same conversation this time next year.

Can any lessons be learned from this?

A number of criticisms have been made about the handling of the situation.

Ms Edge in particular was disappointed the letter to the pool's staff was shared with the media ahead of her department's schedule: 

But the Southern Pool Board issued a press release claiming the main cause of distress to its staff was the prospect of losing their jobs, not the news being leaked.

It also disputes a number of the claims made by the education minister on Manx Radio.

In particular it says it never asked for any additional funding from her department aside from the usual annual subvention.

Others say the handling of the whole situation has been poorly thought-through.

Rushen MHK Michelle Haywood shared her thoughts on Facebook.

She says pool staff were well within their rights to share the letter with the media as they hadn't been told it was confidential, describing the situation as "utterly mishandled and inept".

So should government be learning lessons from how this story developed?

Rushen MHK Juan Watterson says yes:

What about the Island's regional pools in general?

The report - titled the ‘Long Term Strategic Plan for Regional Sports Hubs’ - was thought to be assessing the possibility of creating regional sports hubs on the Island, although it doesn't appear to discuss them very much.

In fact, just one and a half pages of the 300-page report make reference to them.

It says: "There is a strong rationale for coordinating the management and programming of the key Regional Sports Facilities available for community use - specifically indoor sports halls, swimming pools and Synthetic Astro-turf Pitches."

One commissioner described it as a report looking instead into how to close the regional pools.

Juan McGuinness is the chair of the Northern Local Authority Swimming Pool Board:

The report also makes a number of recommendations around the governance of the regional pools.

It makes repeated mention of the fact that they should transfer from local authority control to DESC.

"Inadequate arrangements exist for oversight on strategic decision making. Rate payer contributions are very small compared to funding provided by DESC (taxpayer) for the subvention, but Local Authority members are the decision makers in setting policy, strategy and direction."

Speaking in the House of Keys yesterday (23 January) Minister Edge said she now wants to make sure government is able to properly scrutinise how the money it provides to the pools is spent:

Currently, Ms Edge doesn't have the legal vires to close any of the regional pools, only to stop providing them with the subvention.

It's likely if their running did transfer to DESC then the minister would have the ability to close a pool.

However, it would ultimately be down to Tynwald to make that decision.