Call for extra government support to enable Rye Swimming Pool to reopen

On Monday (December 12), Rother cabinet members considered a report updating members on the situation facing the swimming pool at Rye Sports Centre, following its closure on November 1 as a result of rising energy bills.

During the meeting, councillors of all political parties supported plans to lobby the government and ask it to provide additional financial support to leisure operators with their energy costs.

Cllr Hazel Timpe (Ind), cabinet member for communities, culture and tourism, said: “I truly believe that everything is being done that can be done. But we are on quite a tight schedule here. If the government doesn’t decide to support the leisure industry in January, then other options will have to come forward.

“I really believe that Rye Town Council are fully aware that something has got to happen, possibly with the community’s support. When you look at that petition, the number of people that want to keep it open in Rye, there are all sorts of options. But we really do want to keep it open for the rest of us.”

The issue had previously been discussed at a meeting of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee last month.

Speaking at cabinet, scrutiny committee chairman Cllr Paul Osborne (Con) said: “We didn’t get the answer. I think if people are expecting the silver bullet to reopen it next week, we didn’t get it and we are not going to, in all honesty.

“But I think it is good to see that everybody is working and singing from the same hymn sheet. Nobody wants the facility closed, as it is now, and we just got to find a way to get it reopened.”

Cllr Osborne went on to call for an additional resolution, asking cabinet members to confirm that the authority would lobby for additional support for the leisure sector. This recommendation was accepted by cabinet members.

The suggestion was borne of a warning, aired during the November scrutiny meeting, that financial support would be needed to make the pool viable, if energy prices did not fall significantly in the coming months.

The warning came from Ivan Horsfall-Turner, CEO of Freedom Leisure — a not-for-profit trust which runs the centre on behalf of the council.

He said the support would ideally come in the form of the government recognising providers like Freedom Leisure as a ‘vulnerable sector’ which need extra help. He called on councillors to join lobbying efforts to make this case.

Even then, he said, Freedom Leisure may need direct revenue support from the council to ensure the pool can reopen. Rother District Council has previously said it would be unable to afford this, however.

Rother District Council has previously said it would be unable to provide this direct funding.

Officers did, however, speak about other ways of helping. This included plans to reduce the pool’s reliance on fossil fuels through a project funded from Community Infrastructure Levy money. This project, although still at a very early stage, could include the installation of solar panels on the leisure centre’s roof, officers said.