Buntingford Swimming Club holds last session before East Herts Council closes Ward Freman Pool

Young members of Buntingford Swimming Club have held their last session before East Herts Council closes Ward Freman pool.

Head coach Gillie Lomax said: “This is a whole community built by children who actually learned in this pool and it looks at this point like that’s never going to happen again. I’m absolutely gutted.”

Swimmers at the 47-year-old club have been told the facility – their home since 1976 – is not safe to open beyond the end of this school term.

East Herts Council (EHC) chiefs have said they do not have the money to repair the venue.

Gillie said: “It’s a very sociable thing, swimming… You don’t need specialist equipment, you don’t need special abilities.

“Everybody should be able to swim. It’s something you can do to get yourself through injuries, through illnesses. You can be in recovery from a heart attack and still swim. You can be hemiplegic or paraplegic and still swim.”

Gillie, who has coached at the club for 22 years, said swimming was a “life skill”. She added that some families and primary schools would be unable to afford the time or money for swimming sessions further afield when the Buntingford pool closes.

“We’re an island nation,” she said. “Step backwards in the wrong place and you’re swimming – or drowning.”

Chair Jody Gray said: “The reality is without a Buntingford swimming pool, there can’t be a club. Buntingford Swimming Club – this is where it started and this is where it will end.”

She urged parents to “not give up hope” that a campaign to save the pool would prove successful.

More than 1,400 people have signed a Change.org petition to keep the swimming centre open.

According to EHC, the work required to bring the pool up to a safe standard would take about 21 weeks with a price tag of £543,550.

Operator Everyone Active does not believe the pool is safe to open beyond the end of the current school term, which ends this week.

Some pool tiles have come loose and underwater mats cover the affected areas. There is a risk of cryptosporidium – a microscopic parasite that can cause diarrhoea – in the water.

At a November meeting, EHC’s cabinet agreed to shut the pool “while further investigations can be undertaken as to potential solutions to remedy the health and safety concerns”.

Cllr Sarah Hopewell, who was appointed the council’s executive member for wellbeing after the May local elections, responded to the petition at a meeting on Wednesday December 13.

The Green Party member for Hertford Sele told fellow councillors: “The filtration system is well beyond its expected shelf life. There is damage to pipework in the filtration system which has resulted in a low flow rate and poor circulation. There are also cracks in other areas, and the pool plant is obsolete and requires replacement.”

She said the authority was “not in a position” to put forward capital cash for the works.

“I feel it is crucial we do whatever possible to salvage this pool,” she said. “It’s been heartwarming to see so many offers of help and support from residents keen to bring this facility back into use.”

Cllr Hopewell added: “We want to ensure we have explored every avenue. The petition clearly shows the value of this pool and all the comments will not go to waste as they are key to demonstrating a case for funding when developing grant applications.”