Keswick pool: Council to look again at closure

People have been unable to swim at Keswick pool for three years

A decision to close a Lake District swimming pool could be revisited, the leader of a new ruling council said.

Keswick pool has remained shut since the pandemic, with the former Allerdale authority citing £200,000 repairs.

It was dubbed a "swamp" when closed after algae turned its water green and it has a list of issues due to its age.

Labour's Mark Fryer, from Cumberland Council, said he did not want to give "false hope" but said the authority would look at the decision again.

Carlisle, Millom and Maryport have also lost public pools in recent years. And plans for a new pool in Maryport were recently axed amid the rising cost of energy.

A layer of green algae formed on the surface of the Keswick Leisure Pool in 2020 after it was closed

Mr Fryer said he would have put a "review" on Keswick if he had been in charge at the time.

"It looked like it needed about £300-£400,000 worth of capital, which is a lot easier than £300-£400,000 worth of revenue year-on-year-on-year," he told BBC Politics North.

"I would have probably looked at it slightly differently and yeah we will look at that decision, absolutely we will look at the decision and see what we can do."

He said a £60m government fund to support swimming pools hit by rising costs will not go far enough.

Former pool user Keith Richardson now faces a 36-mile (58km) round trip to swim in Penrith

Former pool user Keith Richardson said locals and visitors to the area had been "treated pretty badly" and said there should have been a plan to extend the facility's life.

"I think it's for a lot of people of a certain age and a lot of younger people as well who have been deprived of a swimming pool in Keswick for a long time now," he said.

"Through people I know I can bear witness to the fact that a lot of them have suffered health problems as a direct result of not being able to go for a regular daily or weekly swim."

Janice Weatherill Timmins praised the community effort in keeping the pool open

He now has a 36-mile (58km) round trip each week to use a pool at Greystoke near Penrith, as well as footing the cost of fuel.

"It's a good pool at Penrith - but that's not as good as being able to come here on a regular daily basis which I was doing before this pool closed over three years ago," he said.

The pool is run as a not-for-profit community group and has more than 100 volunteers involved.

Janice Weatherill Timmins, a trustee, said the cost of heating the pool increased by 143 per cent last year, forcing it to put up its prices.

"This wouldn't be here without the community," she added.

"I think we are getting more and more people willing to put something back into the community which is a good sign."

The government said its Swimming Pool Support Fund - operated through Sport England - would help with immediate cost pressures and make facilities more energy efficient.

For more on this story watch BBC Politics North on BBC One on Sunday at 10:00 BST and later on BBC iPlayer.