Paralympic swimmer calls for Olympic-sized pool

Callie-Ann Warrington won silver at the Paris Paralympics

A Paralympic swimmer has called for an Olympic-sized swimming pool to be built in Kent amid the county's success in the sport.

Ashford's Callie-Ann Warrington won silver at the Paris Paralympics despite there being no competitive 50m pools in Kent.

Ms Warrington said she was "amazed" Kent had two Paralympic swimmers and one Olympic swimmer at the 2024 games considering the county was "at a deficit" compared to others.

She said: "Imagine what we could produce as a county if we had the correct facilities."

Tonbridge's Iona Winnifrith won a silver at the Paralympics, while Eva Okaro, from Sevenoaks, represented Team GB in the Olympics.

Competitive swimmers in the county currently have to travel to either London or Crawley to train in a 50m pool.

Swimming Iona Winnifrith, from Tonbridge, won a silver at the Paralympics

Ms Warrington, who grew up in Maidstone, says the cost of travelling is "astronomical".

She said: “As a county we are haemorrhaging 25m pools that are closing left, right, and centre, and we don’t even have access to a 50m pool."

Kent hosts its own county championships in London due to the lack of a 50m pool.

Ms Warrington said: "It's just upsetting that we have to travel so far to have access and be on a level playing field with not only the rest of the country, but the rest of the world.

"We've got [the] world championships in Singapore next year and I don't want to be behind everyone else, I want to be in front of them.”

'Keep fighting'

Swim England, the national governing body for swimming, said it had 31 50m pools in the country, with the majority of the population within a 70-minute drive of one.

It said: "Kent is the biggest, and perhaps only, demand we have for a 50m pool."

Mark Leman, president of the Royal Tunbridge Wells Monson Swimming Club, said: "Kent is one of the largest counties in the country when it comes to swimming and is phenomenally successful having recently won the county championships.

"We're normally in the top-five swimming counties in the country, but we do not have a 50m pool of our own."

'No plans'

Maidstone Borough Council says 50m pools are "a lot more expensive to run", which makes them "a very difficult decision" for an authority to build.

It said any plans for a new sports centre would prioritise its use for groups, children's lessons, fitness, diving and leisure.

Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council said: "While we’ve no plans to build new pools, we are committed to investing in facilities to support healthy lifestyles in our borough and are currently working on proposals for a brand new leisure centre in Tonbridge."

Ms Warrington said: "I will keep fighting and campaigning until someone listens, because no one has listened to us for many, many years now."

She suggested a 50m pool could be built in Ashford, Maidstone or Tonbridge.

Ashford Borough Council declined to comment.