Rescue package agreed for Olympian's first pool

Lucy Hope - who was at the Paris Olympics - learned to swim at the Jedburgh pool

A rescue package has been approved to keep the pool open where a Borders Olympian learned to swim.

Councillors agreed to make an early payment of a management fee of nearly £30,000 to the Laidlaw Memorial Pool in Jedburgh - plus another £40,000 from reserves.

It will allow further financial help to be explored and a closer working relationship to be established with other organisations.

Swimmer Lucy Hope - from Crailing - said she would not have reached the Olympics without the local facilities in Jedburgh and Kelso.

"Being able to access a 25m pool shouldn't be a luxury, it should be an essential," she said.

"I think it is really upsetting to hear if a lot of these pools are closed I don't know what the communities will do.

"I live between Jedburgh and Kelso in a little farm, it was even a 15 to 20 minute drive to this pool so imagine there were no pools within 30 minutes."

She said the lack of local facilities would affect all levels of swimmers.

"People aren't going to travel an hour to go to a pool every day," she said.

"Not even competitively, if you're elderly and you can't travel and there's not a bus they wouldn't be able to access any sort of facility which they need mobility-wise and mentally.

"So I think it is quite an essential that we do our best to keep these open."

The council is being asked to make an early payment to the trust which runs the pool

Surging fuel costs and a reduction in users since the pandemic have been blamed for the financial problems.

A report to councillors outlined the scale of the issue facing the operators Jedburgh Leisure Facilities Trust.

It has only about £3,000 available to cover an immediate wage bill of about £20,000 due at the end of the month.

In addition, it has debt running to tens of thousands of pounds which it is unable to service with current levels of income.

Scottish Borders Council agreed to pay the final instalment of its annual funding early to ease the immediate financial pressure.

It will also seek a business case detailing proposed changes in the operating model of the trust be brought back to the council before the end of the year.