Nantwich Swimming Pool is to get a massive £1.4million facelift, it was announced today.
A full review of the Wall Lane complex has been completed and funding has been agreed to make it a facility fit for the future.
Money will be spent on modernising changing rooms, showers and toilets to create a “changing village” – a unisex changing area with cubicles and individual family changing rooms.
There are also plans for a new entrance, better fitness facilities, improved roofing, paved surfaces, a new boiler, pool filters and air handling unit.
Regular users at the pool were delighted at the announcement.
Rosie Jennings, 25, of Crewe Road, Nantwich, has been using it since she was a child.
She said: “The changing rooms could do with some updating. Some of the building is a bit dated as it hasn’t really changed since I came here when I was younger. This is a really positive thing for the local community.”
Stapeley resident Andrea Leach, 34, added: “It is good news the council is going to invest money in the pool, especially in this climate. It will be good for Nantwich.”
Cllr Rod Menlove, Cabinet member with responsibility for environmental services, said: “I am delighted we have agreed funds for this work, which would result in a swimming facility of which Nantwich and its people can be rightly proud.
“We realise it has much potential and we want to enhance the existing facilities and make them fit for the future.”
Cheshire East now plans to start the project as soon as possible, and has vowed to keep disruption down to a minimum during development work.
Crewe and Nantwich MP Edward Timpson said: “This is excellent news for Nantwich residents that will deliver a long-needed upgrade of the baths.”
PIC: Andrea Leach and her two-year-old daughter Emily and Cllr Menlove at Nantwich Swimming Pool.
I’ve been swimming regularly at Nantwich Pool for the last four years and have few complaints about the facilities for serious swimmers, although the area around the outdoor pool would benefit from some improvements. Spending more than a million pounds on (among other things) a new entrance, a ‘changing village’ and a ‘unisex changing area’ seems to me to be cosmetic, unnecessary and very wasteful. There are many more deserving causes than this in Nantwich.
I would have welcomed some consultation with regular pool users on this proposal. Can CEC guarantee that entry charges will not increase as a result of this ‘massive facelift’?