By Rebecca Maer
Dozens of protesters braved the cold and rain last night as councillors met to scrutinise the controversial decision to close two Eastbourne swimming pools.
Furious residents chanted ‘Save Our Pool’ and waved placards on the steps of the town hall in Grove Road (above).
The fun pool and the smaller training pool are being closed until their longer term future is decided.
The deeper gala pool will remain open and be split into sections to accommodate school swimming and lessons as a priority.
Eastbourne Borough Council’s scrutiny committee heard from four public speakers who were against the plan, all of whom were applauded from the public gallery.
A council press release sent earlier today framed it as: ‘Future of swimming confirmed at Sovereign Centre’.
It quoted council leader Stephen Holt (Lib Dem) as saying: “This has not been an easy process and has involved some very difficult decisions, and I’d like to thank those residents for their contributions to this process.
“But without making significant savings, the council would be at risk of being unable to set a balanced budget and the potential complete closure of all discretionary services, including the entire Sovereign Centre, as a result of central government inaction.”
How much money does the council need to save?
The Lib Dem-controlled council has said it needs to save another £2.7 million this year and around £3 million in each of the next two years to balance the budget.
It is currently spending nearly £5 million a year on temporary accommodation, one of the main reasons the council says it faces financial problems.
Cllr Holt has stated repeatedly that the cost-of-living crisis and no-fault evictions were among factors leaving people in need of accommodation.
The council says that if it does not save money by closing the two pools, there is a risk of a Section 114 notice being served which would mean all services, including the Sovereign Centre, would close except those which are statutory.
But opposition Conservatives on the council have blamed the Lib Dems for how they have prioritised services and run the borough.
What do protesters say?
Sarah Turner was with her husband Luke and two young children on the steps of the town hall with a placard.
She created the Facebook page ‘Save the Sovereign Centre’, which has more than 2,000 followers and ‘likes’. There is also a petition of more than 7,000 signatures against closing the pools.
Ms Turner, an insurance underwriter, said: “I saw there were comments about the pools in lots of different places but I wanted to create somewhere everyone could share their voice.
“The centre means so much to me: I learnt to swim with my grandad in the pool and I love taking my children. It feels like it is the wrong place to look for savings.”
Her husband Luke Turner, who works for an information services company, said: “It’s such a great asset for the town and brings so many benefits that aren’t easily quantifiable in an accounting ledger but are good benefits nonetheless: you can’t put a price on kids getting exercise.”
Who spoke at the meeting?
At the meeting, four public speakers addressed councillors.
Ian Phelps, a semi-retired leisure management specialist, said he enjoyed taking his grandchildren to the pool, which someone described to him as “Benidorm on steroids”.
He questioned how the cafe at the Sovereign Centre operated at a £16,000 loss last year and what was the council’s strategy for the building: refurbishment or new build.
Until that is decided, Mr Phelps asked why the council was considering replacing ageing timber cladding, lights and metalwork in a near 50-year-old building. “Would you really want to spend money on that?”
Repairs over the next five years are put at £2.6 million in a council document here. The council has agreed a planned transfer for operating the centre to Wave Leisure next year.
Hugh Graham, the former chair of Eastbourne Leisure Trust, which managed the Sovereign Centre and Motcombe pool between 2004 and 2020, said there should be a full business plan from Wave Leisure comparing running the centre with all three pools open with a reduced operation.
Robert Robinson, whose seven-year-old daughter had written to councillors asking them not to close the fun pool, said it was a “catastrophic decision”.
“It is more than just a leisure facility: it is where families connect and children learn to swim. The fun pool is accessible – the gala pool is not,” he said.
Physiotherapist Jan Bruce said she had been using the warm, accessible training pool for many years to help patients recover from injury and accidents.
“It allows patients to quickly recover so they can return to work and regain their independence,” she said.
Conservative group leader Robert Smart addressed the committee as a public speaker.
“This is a panicked response from an incompetent administration,” he said.
The Lib Dem Cabinet approved the transfer to Wave Leisure in July 2023. Cllr Smart questioned what the contract with Wave Leisure involved and asked where a business plan was.
“It is not for this committee to produce solutions in three hours what the administration has failed to do in 16 months [since July 2023],” he said.
Cllr Hugh Parker (Lib Dem) said his heart was with keeping the pools open but his head acknowledged that the finances of the council left little choice but to act.
“Professional officers are telling us we might be in a position where we lose control of that asset. It is very, very unfortunate that we should even be considering closing two pools … but I can’t see we are left with very much choice,” he said.
What was the outcome?
The scrutiny committee is not a decision-making body. It reports back to the Cabinet or full council.
After two and a half hours of discussion about the Sovereign Centre, the Lib Dem and Conservative members of the committee voted on a recommendation.
It stated that the committee recognised the strength of feeling about the issue, that the council was fully committed to keeping the pools open longer term, understood the challenges faced by the council and recommended an advisory group should explore more opportunities for swimming and leisure in Eastbourne.
The recommendation was approved: the five Lib Dem councillors voted in favour, the three Conservatives voted against it.
The Conservatives had wanted a recommendation stating that a panel should be set up to consider the issue further because the committee had not been given sufficient time. This was defeated: three Tories voted in favour, five Lib Dems against.
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