Hertfordshire County Council and East Herts Council snub call from Sawbridgeworth Town Council for help with swimming lesson travel costs after closure of Leventhorpe pool

Responses from the county council’s education chief and the leader of the district council to a request for financial help with schoolchildren’s swimming lessons have been slammed by town councillors.

Sawbridgeworth Town Council wrote to Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) director of education Tony Fitzpatrick and East Herts Council (EHC) asking whether parents and schools could be provided with financial assistance for increased travel costs following the closure of Leventhorpe Pool at the secondary school in Cambridge Road.

Primary pupils now have to pay for travel to other pools, including Grange Paddocks Leisure Centre in Bishop’s Stortford, meaning increased costs for schools and parents.

At a meeting of the town council on Monday, the responses from Mr Fitzpatrick and EHC leader Cllr Ben Crystall were discussed.

In his reply – on notepaper with the footer “County of Opportunity” – Mr Fitzpatrick said that additional funding could not be provided because the county was not “provided with funding for leisure facilities, including swimming pools, as part of our education funding”.

He added: “Provision of leisure facilities, including swimming, is a district/borough council responsibility, not an education one, and therefore we are unable to fund such facilities.”

Mr Fitzpatrick added that “exceptional circumstances” funding for swimming pools “was not deemed to be in the scope” of the policy.

In his reply, Cllr Crystall said that although he appreciated and understood the additional burden of travel cost to families, the council was facing huge financial challenges.

He highlighted the council’s “significant statutory obligations” and the “significant” increase of its waste contract costs.

Cllr Eric Buckmaster, a town, district and county councillor for Sawbridgeworth, said he was disappointed with Cllr Crystall’s reply. “I just think it’s what’s we know in the trade as sloping shoulders,” he said. “It was just nonsense – there’s no intention of offering any support.”

Cllr John Rider said there was no mitigation from EHC and residents had been badly let down.