Swimming club fears for future as St Annes Pool set to be closed for extended period

The closure of St Annes Pool and Gym until further notice could mean a decades-old junior swimming club having to start all over again in terms of recruiting members, a swimming coach has warned.

Lytham St Annes Swimming Club was founded more than 30 years ago and had around 100 members - aged seven to 15 - when the pool at St Annes was last in use earlier this year.

But numbers dwindled after the club was forced to look elsewhere for swimming facilities after Fylde Council and new operators of the pool Place Leisure closed the pool in April, for what was said at the time to be for up to 12 weeks.

Club swimming sessions were relocated to Rossall School, at least 40 minutes’ drive away, but that was recently put stopped by the club after the cost of the journey proved too much for many parents.

Now, coach Vicki Ormerod says the club has no choice but to suspend activities altogether after Fylde Council announced that the pool will remain closed for an unspecified period while essential works are carried out to secure the facility’s long-term future.

The council hasn’t said how long the work will take but Vicki and colleagues expect it to be at least two years - a situation compounded by the fact that Kirkham Pool is also out of action as it is prepared for refurbishment after being closed since December 2021.

“It’s so frustrating and basically means we are likely to have to start all over again once the pool at St Annes eventually reopens,” said Vicki.

“We can understand the work has to be done but it would have been far better if St Annes could have remained open until Kirkham is ready for use, whereas as it stands now, there are no public swimming facilities in Fylde and that’s so regrettable.

“We have been travelling up to Rossall for months to use the pool there but had to stop that as the cost got too much. Now, we’ve no choice but to put the club on hold for what is probably going to be at least two years.

“That’s a very long time and we’ll probably lose all our members in that time and have to start all over again, which is very sad.”

Fylde Council bosses confirmed on Thursday that the pool will remain closed for the foreseeable while multi-million pound works are carried out to improve it.

When Places Leisure took over from the YMCA as an agent for Fylde Council in April, the decision was taken at this time to close the centre to allow essential maintenance work to take place.

As detailed surveys and investigations were undertaken, additional structural issues requiring immediate remediation were identified and the council says specialist contractors and consultants have advised against attempting to reopen the building with short-term fixes.

So the decision has been made to opt for a once in a generation investment which it is said will transform the site into a modern, high-quality leisure destination.

Staff are understood to have been laid off at the pool following the decision.

The decision to go ahead with the work has been backed by Fylde MP Andrew Snowden, who said: “This is a vital step by Fylde Council to protect the future of both St Annes Pool as well as Kirkham Baths.

“By getting on with these major projects now the council is helping to protect them from any delays, changes or uncertainty arising from the forced merger with Blackpool.

“Fylde Council has worked extremely hard to maintain healthy, well-managed finances, enabling it to invest millions of pounds in modern, high-quality leisure facilities for local residents.

“These facilities belong to our communities, and Fylde Council is absolutely right to secure their future while these important decisions remain firmly in local hands.

“This investment will give residents across Fylde the excellent leisure facilities they deserve for many years to come.”