Plans for £10m upgrade for holiday park pool unveiled

Brean Splash is going to get new swimming facilities if plans are approved

Plans for a £10.2m overhaul of a holiday park's swimming facilities have been submitted for approval.

The redevelopment at the Unity Beach Holiday Park in Brean - known as Brean Splash - will see two more pool areas outside, a lazy river, a bigger changing space for families and a board walk.

The pool is primarily used by holiday makers but day tickets are also available to buy and the inside pool is used by local schools for swimming lessons.

If the plans are approved by Somerset Council, work on the project would begin later this year – closing Brean Splash from 1 December until about March 2026.

Dermot King, director of Unity Holidays, said: "The facility will close over the winter but I think what we'll get at the end of it is very exciting."

An artist's impression of how the finished Brean Splash area at Unity Beach will look has been included in the plans

Unity Holidays said the plans would allow it to "sustain and grow" participation levels in swimming, lessons and recreational activities, not just for holidaymakers but also for local residents.

It comes as Swim England says it is concerned about the lack of pools accessible to people in England, with about 500 public pools having closed in the UK since 2010.

Phillip Brownlie, from Swim England, said: "Swimming is hugely important, it's well and truly a life skill and could one day be a difference between surviving and not and that's why it's so crucial to have access to water."

Mr Brownlie said the plans for Brean Splash could be "really positive".

"Swimming was massively impacted [by Covid]. It's bouncing back really strongly, if we look at Somerset, more children are swimming every week than around 2017," Mr Brownlie said.