With regard to access to swimming in the 50 metre pool between 6 - 8 am (the only time the 50m set up is in place) and 8 - 9.30 pm it is apparently necessary to both:
- a Leisure Active member, incurring a minimum charge of £19 per month paid from a bank account and
- apply to Dundee City Council for a National Entitlement Card to use as a swipe card to gain access to Olympia.
For those that want to swim at these times and in particular swim in Dundee's only 50 metre pool, there is apparently no casual turn up and pay access to Olympia. During these times the Olympia seems to be operating more like a private health club and not like a publicly provided swimming pool.
If my constituent was right, this policy seems discriminatory because many folk in our city could not afford the monthly cost of a Leisure Active membership. It also seems to exclude folk who want to swim lengths and are not members of Swimming Clubs. While access to Olympia is more flexible later in the morning and afternoon, the fifty metre layout is not available during those times.
This seems to be contrary to the public service obligation which follows the Council's investment of £31,5 million in this new facility. As an elected member of the Council that supported the replacement of the Olympia, I didn't think this was what the Council was investing in.
I wrote to Stewart Murdoch in his twin capacities as Managing Director of Leisure and Culture Dundee and Director of Leisure and Communities with the City Council. I asked that, if indeed this is the new policy at Olympia, he and the board of Dundee Leisure and Culture reconsider this.
In his reply Stewart Murdoch confirmed that Olympia had indeed discontinued the use of paper tickets for early morning swimming for non members although it was exploring the feasibility of a 'swim only' membership. This however doesn't address the issue I have raised. I have asked for a more comprehensive review into access arrangements at Olympia.
