Grove Swimming Pool Sunday Closure

Leisure and Culture Dundee announced in a Facebook posting last Friday that Sunday swimming at Grove Academy has been cancelled for the foreseeable future. I was concerned when I heard about this from a constituent. It was clear that a service was being denied for members of Leisure and Culture Dundee as well as for those who turn up for an occasional swim on a Sunday. It is all very well directing swimmers to other pools in the city but that is not necessarily a feasible nor convenient option. I contacted Stewart Murdoch, Director of Leisure and Culture Dundee. He clarified that the closure had been necessitated by a lack of qualified life guards. A number had left at the same time and it would take a while to recruit replacements. In many cases the potential life guards would need to be put through the qualifying training programmes before they were available to start work. Clearly Leisure and Culture Dundee have been caught unprepared at a time when they should have been working towards an expansion of their pool of qualified life guards. Leisure and Culture Dundee are soon to assume responsibility for managing the swimming pool at the new Harris Academy but right now can't quite keep all their current pools open. I have asked for a date when Sunday opening of the Grove Academy pool resumes.