Call to introduce all-island rate to pay for Manx swimming pools

Public pools on the Isle of Man are funded through local rates and taxes

An all-island rate should be introduced to make the funding of public pools on the Isle of Man fairer, a Castletown Commissioner has said.

It comes amid a review into the regional local authority facilities and the government-run pool at the National Sports Centre (NSC) in Douglas.

Jerry Ludford-Brooks said it was unfair that some authorities benefited from the NSC but paid nothing towards it.

The Department of Education Sport and Culture has been contacted for comment.

The department commissioned the independent review earlier this year after propping up the local authority pools with extra cash as they struggled to meet rising energy costs and inflation.

'Totally unfair'

The Isle of Man has three regional pools in Castletown, Peel and Ramsey which are paid for by a mixture of local rates and a subvention from the government, which runs the NSC pool in the capital.

Mr Ludford-Brooks said it was "totally unfair" those in Douglas, and the nearby areas of Onchan and Braddan benefited from NSC yet did not have to contributed towards its running costs in their rates.

He has called on the government to charge all the island's local authorities a set rate to fund the cost of all public pools, and will ask Castletown Commissioners to support his stance at a meeting on Monday.

The comments come after Tynwald voted to increase a cap on swimming pool rates, allowing local authorities to increase the contributions from annual rates used to pay for facilities.

Mr Ludford-Brooks said that move was "a bit premature" given the outcome of the wider review into the pools had not concluded.