Pool where champion swimmer trained faces closure

Kara Hanlon won four gold medals at this summer's Island Games in Orkney

A swimming pool in the Western Isles where champion swimmer Kara Hanlon trained has been earmarked for closure.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has proposed shutting down Lionel pool in the Ness area of the Isle of Lewis along with another pool at Shawbost.

The local authority said it needed to find savings of almost £1.4m, including £75,000 from the sports facilities budget.

However, the affected communities have voiced concern about the plans, particularly the impact on children learning to swim.

Kara Hanlon is the most successful swimmer to come from the Western Isles, having won 17 medals for the region's team at the Island Games over the years.

She has also competed for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games and spent much of her childhood training in Lionel swimming pool.

Her mother, Marilyn, said: "Kara used Lionel all the time.

"Without it she wouldn't be where she is today."

"It's disappointing because the council aren't seeing that other swimmers could come through from the island who could be just as good or better than her."

Many children have learned how to swim at Lionel Swimming Pool

In a statement, a spokesman for Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar said that a package of £1,391,697 of savings had been agreed as part of this year's budget-setting process.

It said that included a saving of £75,000 from the sports facilities budget by removing early opening of sites and the "full closure and repurposing" of the two pools.

The council added that it was committed to consulting with the public and staff on proposals to mitigate the effect of the closures.

"Members of the public are encouraged to take the opportunity to engage with the upcoming consultation process which is due to commence by the end of September," it said.