WYNDLEY POOL GETS REFURB - BUT OLYMPIC PUZZLE REMAINS

28-07-2007

Birmingham City Council has finally given the go ahead for the £3.5 million refurbishment of the swimming baths at Wyndley Leisure Centre in Sutton Coldfield - as forecast in The Stirrer more than week ago.

There have been reports that a complete rebuilding job on Wyndley, which has asbestos problems, would cost as much as £30 million - although this dismissed by the Cabinet Member for Leisure Ray Hassall (see here)

The improvements will give the pool an extra shelf life of 10-15 years and means that the residents of Sutton can enjoy a pool again.

What we still don’t know is whether the city is any closer to getting an Olympic pool - a dream cherished by all three of the major parties but regarded as a potential white elephant by The Stirrer.

Although most observers believe this venture depends on co-operation with Aston University, our understanding is that a tie-in with Birmingham University is currently the favoured option.

The hope is that the 50 metre pool will become part of a student sports village on the campus, which might attract outside funding to mitigate against the estimated £1 million annual running costs - although this begs the question of how much use ordinary taxpayers get from it.

There are still no clues, either, about the future of Moseley Road Swimming Baths and Harborne pool, although Brummies shouldn’t consider themselves too hard done by - Wolverhampton Council recently made the decision to close Compton baths, and West Brom’s famous Gala Baths were demolished a fortnight ago with no sign of a replacement.