Sorry, folks: council set to pull the plug on Leith Waterworld

The city council looks set to accept a £1m bid to convert Leith Waterworld into a soft play area, only months after agreeing to work with local campaigners to reopen the leisure pool as a community enterprise.

The decision will be formally made at tomorrow’s full council meeting, but speaking earlier today Culture and Leisure convener Councillor Richard Lewis said the “difficult decision” to support a proposal by Glasgow-based A&G Property Group to create a soft play and leisure centre at Waterworld had been taken.

Leith Waterworld closed in January last year, but supporters have campaigned to have the popular facility reopened ever since. Campaign group Splashback have worked tirelessly to get the facility reopened as a community asset – and felt they might be on the verge of success when councillors voted to support a feasibility study earlier this year – council officers have even been working alongside the Splashback group to firm up proposals.

However campaigners were concerned when news of the A&G bid emerged last week and Councillor Lewis’ comments today has confirmed their worst fears.

Councillor Lewis said: “This has been a very difficult decision and one that this Council does not take lightly. Firstly I’d like to thank Splashback for the work and commitment they have demonstrated in progressing the community bid. However this coalition feels that the potential purchaser will create a high quality leisure facility that will greatly benefit the community in Leith and the wider Edinburgh area.

“In recognition of Splashback’s commitment to creating affordable and accessible swimming opportunities for young people in the community, we’re proposing to commit £125,000 towards free swimming for primary aged children in Edinburgh.

“Ultimately this option ensures that the community in Leith has an accessible leisure facility for many years to come, that swimming opportunities are available and also that the Council gets best value for the taxpayers of Edinburgh.”

In a statement on their Facebook page, Splashback campaigners told friends and supporters: “Outraged to report to all our wonderful supporters that Coalition Motion for tomorrow’s Full Council meeting is to pull the plug on Waterworld and accept the other bid. We have, however, been working frantically behind the scenes in the last 24 hours to salvage SOMETHING for the city’s families.

“Consequently, the motion includes a commitment to ring-fence the £125,000 they promised us in the first year for a Council-led ‘programme of free swimming opportunities for primary aged children in Edinburgh, and other free swimming initiatives; and that the impact of these programmes will be monitored and assessed.’ SORRY FOLKS, that’s the best we could do …”

Commenting on the council’s decision to sell Leith Waterworld, Lothian Green MSP Alison Johnstone said: “This decision sends the worst possible message to communities trying to come together to protect services and improve facilities in their area. Despite all the warm words we hear on community empowerment and people power, when a developer comes along with a wad of cash, community efforts seem to count for little.”

She went on: “Families in Leith and right across the city made it very clear that they valued Waterworld as a unique leisure pool, and just five months after giving everyone hope that it would reopen, the Council have pulled the plug and campaigners will be feeling totally gutted.”

Alternative bid muddies Leith waters

A community campaign to reopen Leith Waterworld has voiced concerns over a late £1 million bid to buy the building and reopen it as a soft play centre. Splashback are urging councillors to show conviction and to stick with commitments made in January.

Councillors voted to give further support the community initiative in January, and since then Splashback have been working with the city council to progress the feasibility of reopening Waterworld as a social enterprise – so news of a fresh bid for Waterworld has not been welcomed.

In a statement, the group said: “We were delighted when, on 31 January this year, the city’s Councillors overwhelmingly voted to work with Splashback and to establish a working group to develop the business plan for a community-run Leith Waterworld. This reflected the administration’s desire to work cooperatively with the citizens of Edinburgh, as set out in the Capital Coalition agreement. Over the last three and a half months, we have worked with Councillors and officials in good faith, and while there remains much still to do, we have made significant progress, including developing a fundraising plan and applying for charitable status.”

The statement continues: “The development of Leith Waterworld as a community-led social enterprise would support the first two partnership commitments of the coalition, namely ‘ensuring every child in Edinburgh has the best start in life’ and ‘reducing poverty, inequality and deprivation’. The coalition agreement acknowledged the breakdown in trust between the residents of Edinburgh and their elected representatives, and that the city will be able to judge the Council against the promises it makes in the agreement.

“Splashback understands that this new bid leaves Councillors with a decision to make at next week’s Full Council meeting – whether to continue working with us to achieve a revitalised Leith Waterworld, or to pursue the new bid at this stage. However, we have faith in the letter and the spirit of the amendment carried on 31 January, and believe that the conviction displayed by Councillors on that day will guide their decision. We look forward to continuing to work with the Council to deliver on the commitments they made in January.”

Senior councillors have stressed that no decisions have been taken ahead of next week’s meeting.

Councillor Richard Lewis, the city’s Culture and Sport Convener, said: “Over the last few months officials and elected members have been working closely with Splashback to progress the feasibility phase of their community bid to run Leith Waterworld. I’d like to thank Splashback for their continued commitment to developing their community bid.

“The council had agreed in January to re-market the property whilst we were supporting the feasibility phase of Splashback’s bid and in the intervening months we received two new unsolicited notes of interest in purchasing Leith Waterworld, one of which is being taken to council for consideration.”

Councillors will discuss the bid – and receive a progress report on the Splashback initiative – at next Thursday’s full council meeting.

Eleven month lifeline for Leith Waterworld

Councillors today voted to further explore the feasibility of reopening Leith Waterworld. Campaign group Splashback will now have council support during an 11-month development phase to establish whether the facility can be operated within the parameters of a finalised business plan.

The continuation of the bid beyond this phase is dependent on the community group securing the necessary capital funding to invest in the facility and, further, on their business plan meeting with the approval of an independent third party.

The council will release a maximum of £100,000 to help fund the feasibility study and a dedicated Councillor/ Officer Working-Group will be set up to support Splashback in developing their bid. A report on the results of the study will be considered by councillors once the development phase ends, following which a decision on the facility’s future will be taken.

Councillor Richard Lewis, Culture and Leisure Convener, said: “I want to acknowledge the considerable time and effort that Splashback have committed to their bid thus far. While there remains a tremendous amount of work to be done in the months ahead, we want to give the community the best possible chance of success by providing the necessary funding and support toward taking their proposals to the next phase. We owe it to the people of Edinburgh to do everything we can to preserve this valuable community asset.”

On 20 September, councillors had granted Splashback additional time, plus dedicated support from council officers, to present a more robust business case, and today’s decision has given the campaign group renewed hope that the facility can now be saved.

However Johnny Gailey, a founder member of the campaign, says the council decision is only a reprieve and there’s a lot of hard work to be done. “What’s been voted on today is a reprieve if you like – the council could be much more pro-active about exploring all the options, so we do feel this is an achievement but it’s not a result”, he said. “This is not our preferred option – our first choice was always that the pool should remain in public ownership. That’s been denied, and so we’ve been forced to think about second choices. We now have to put a call out to people in the wider community, and also to other third sector partners to help us with a bid. That call out will also be to Edinburgh Leisure and to the city council – they are part of the community too, and they need to be part of this process.”

Green Councillor for Leith Chas Booth supported the Splashback campaign and he is delighted with the council decision. He said: “I am delighted that the Council has seen the wisdom of backing community ownership of this much-loved asset and has seen the social, health and economic benefits of re-opening the pool. We now have a period of almost a year to finalise the business case and get children and other pool users back in the water.”

D Day for Leith Waterworld

Councillors will decide today (31 January) whether to back a community bid to operate Leith Waterworld.

An officer report, which will be considered at today’s council meeting, concludes that the revised business case submitted by campaign group, Splashback, is not commercially viable and does not offer best value to the Council, and recommends that the property be remarketed for sale. However campaigners believe that their plans do stack up and that Leith Waterdworld could be reopened as early as October this year.

Councillors agreed on 20 September to offer an extension to the campaigners and to provide dedicated assistance from the Council’s Economic Development unit to enable them to prepare a more robust business case.

The revised submission features two options: the first would be to operate the venue using its existing facilities; the second would add a large soft play feature in the glass entrance atrium and create a new café.

Both options would still require a significant ongoing subsidy from the Council, for which no budget currently exists, and neither would generate the funds required to help pay for the recently completed refurbishment of the Royal Commonwealth Pool.

The process had previously been postponed for six months to allow Splashback to come forward with alternative proposals for the pool, which has been closed since January 2012. This followed a decision taken in 2005 to put the property up for sale.

Splashback, the community group set up to save Leith Waterworld, believes their figures stack up. They claim:

“Through running the facility as a community led iniatitive, we believe we can

provide a fun and enjoyable leisure destination for over 150,000 users per annum
reduce the subsidy required from Council for the pool to well under the Scottish average for pools – £260,000
In fact through increased soft play and additional revenue streams, we can bring the subsidy right down to circa £20,000 by year 3
In doing so we would bring potentially approx 60 jobs to the Leith area through direct employment and supply chains
and generate an additional £460,000 for the local Leith economy.
These benefits are in addition to the potential saving to public spending through increased wellbeing in the area.

We will be asking the Council on 31st January for an agreement in principle, to allow us to progress with more detailed planning and fundraising. At the end of six months, we would take the shared decision with the Council whether to progress to reopening, which is currently rescheduled for October 2013.”

Splashback conclude: “With the massive success of the Olympics and the Paralympics last year and the
Commonwealth Games next year, there is much talk, at the moment, of ‘legacy’. There appears to be a growing awareness and understanding that yes whilst these elite events can provide an amazing spectacle, more than that participation and sport can make a real difference at community level. Dundee Council are
currently building a new leisure pool at the cost of £31m, as are Perth at the cost of £15m. Edinburgh has had no leisure pool for over a year. We hope that the Council after reading our business plan, share with us, the desire to rectify that and reopen Leith Waterworld.”

Cllr Richard Lewis, Culture and Leisure Convener, said: “I said previously that I would be delighted if an affordable and achievable community bid came forward and I acknowledge the time and effort that Splashback have invested in this. We gave the group the opportunity to bring back a more robust bid and it is now up to us as councillors to consider the arguments and reach a decision in the best interests of the city.”

Council urged to ‘dive in’ to save Waterworld

Campaigners plan a springboard for success?

Splashback, the Edinburgh residents’ campaign seeking to re-open Leith Waterworld, will this morning submit a bid for a community-led re-opening of the leisure pool. Waterworld was closed in January and subsequently put up for sale by the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC).

Back in February, councillors postponed a decision on the sale for six months following the submission of a 6500 signature petition by campaigners.

The community bid, which comprises a detailed business case and offer letter, will be handed in by campaigners to council headquarters at Waverley Court this morning. the site.

Campaigner Johnny Gailey said: “Today we’re taking our community bid to the Council, handing over the torch to the Council. It is only fitting that, during this exciting Olympic time, the future of such a well-loved and accessible pool is secured for the people of Leith, all of Edinburgh and beyond. We are providing a proposal, a springboard, for a new beginning for Waterworld, and we hope the Council will take a leap of faith and dive in.”

Fellow campaigner Ida Maspero said: “We believe our business case and supporting documents demonstrate that best value – in the broadest sense, not simply financial – will be achieved by giving the community a chance to re-open this unique and much-loved leisure pool.”

The business case draws heavily on the results of an extensive user survey run by Splashback between mid-May and end-July. The survey, which saw over 800 responses, is part impact study and part market research. It reveals the damaging impact of the closure in January, with 74% of respondents saying that they are now swimming less since Leith Waterworld closed.

Maspero continued: “Waterworld’s unique features – particularly its warmer water temperature and shallow beach area – made it particularly popular with parents of young children to gain early water confidence, and for those with disabilities to enjoy the freedom of water. The survey has seen a good number of responses from people with disabilities or their carers, identified by respondents as a user group for whom Waterworld was particularly important.”

One respondent wrote: ‘I attended Leith Waterworld almost every saturday and sunday for the last 5 years. I am a carer for a young man with Down Syndrome and we loved coming along every weekend, sometimes both days. Then I had my daughter 2 years ago and brought her every weekend too. It is very badly missed!’

For more information on the Splashback campaign visit their blog www.splashbackedinburgh.blogspot.com or visit the Facebook page at www.facebook/com/SaveLeithWaterworld

Council urged to 'dive in' to save Waterworld

Campaigners plan a springboard for success?

Back in February, councillors postponed a decision on the sale for six months following the submission of a 6500 signature petition by campaigners.

The community bid, which comprises a detailed business case and offer letter, will be handed in by campaigners to council headquarters at Waverley Court this morning. the site.

For more information on the Splashback campaign visit their blog www.splashbackedinburgh.blogspot.com or visit the Facebook page at www.facebook/com/SaveLeithWaterworld

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