Pooling resources

I READ with great interest the letter from councillor Roger Oakley regarding the replacement pool for the Aquarena, which was printed in last week's Herald (July 29).
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Aug 2010, 17:45 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 01:03 BST

He states the spending of 17m of public money is not taken lightly and also that this money is being wisely spent on the proposal which has recently been submitted for planning.

Unfortunately, he is quite clearly misinformed about this spending, which is much greater than the amount that potentially needs to be spent on a replacement pool.

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Indeed, 17m is far in excess of what many other recently-opened pools, with much better facilities than the Worthing proposal, have cost to build.

The council is aware of this but it is determined to continue with this project as part of the seafront regeneration "master plan".

As a result, the look and the construction materials of the building have taken precedence over the facilities inside.

The town will end up with a controversial-looking building, which has received mixed reviews from local tax payers, is unnecessarily expensive and offers average facilities.

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Add to this the lack of parking and poor spectator provision along with several other issues and somehow 17m starts to look like an awful lot of money.

All this against a backdrop of reduced council spending with redundancies and a wage freeze and this just might not be the ideal time to spend money on an "iconic" (the council's description) building.

The answer to the problem is simple '“ build the new pool next to the leisure centre in Durrington where the "look" will not be a significant factor and make this the first phase of a total redevelopment of this site.

Sell the Aquarena after the new pool has opened, with the option of relocating the paddling pool, which continues to be popular.

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If councillor Oakley genuinely thinks this money is being well spent then he, and his colleagues, really need to spend some time looking at what could be achieved with 17m of tax payers' money.

Alastair Roberts

Worthing Swimming Club

NOTE: All letters must include a name and address.

Write in to Readers' Letters, Worthing Herald series, Cannon House, Chatsworth Road, Worthing, BN11 1NA, or email the Herald.

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