Fife Council still plans to close three school swimming pools and it has been revealed it was also considering a fourth for the chop.
The pool at Waid Academy in Anstruther has been given a reprieve despite education officers identifying it as one of the four considered a priority for closure following a review.
While the Waid pool has been saved from the axe, councillors on the education and children’s services committee rubber-stamped proposals to consult the public over shutting the pools at Glenrothes High, St Columba’s RC High in Dunfermline and St Andrew’s RC High in Kirkcaldy due to their age and the costs involved in their upkeep.
Committee chairman Douglas Chapman said it had become clear some pools were not being used to their full advantage.
”There is zero usage from the community for these three facilities and when you look at investments we’ve made elsewhere in the likes of St Andrews, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes, the pools there have become centres of excellence,” he said.
The committee then heard that St Columba’s, for example, has already earmarked the pool space for a possible dance studio, which was warmly welcomed by councillors.
Kirkcaldy councillor Alice Soper said she hoped the closure of pools was not an indication that the council was treating swimming as a lesser element of children’s education. Shelagh McLean, directorate resources manager, stressed that was not the case as it would not impact upon a pupil’s chance to gain national qualifications.
Labour leader Alex Rowley said he hoped the council would look at its swimming strategy more widely in schools, noting that a swimming pool was identified as a key argument in the decision to refurbish Madras College’s Kilrymont site but had not been included in new school developments in Dunfermline and Glenrothes.
He said: ”I believe swimming is really important and every child should be given the chance to learn to swim. I’m not making an argument for the retention of these swimming pools but we need to ask ourselves what Fife’s education service is doing to make sure all school pupils can access swimming as part of a wider curriculum.”
Mr Chapman also made clear Waid’s pool has not been considered for closure at this stage because it still attracts 150 community users a week.
”As a council what we’re trying to do is upgrade swimming facilities not just for schools but for the whole community,” he added.