Save our Swimming Pools
SSP Renfrewshire, together with with local residents, have launched a campaign to save Johnstone and Elderslie swimming pools, both threatened with closure under the SNP/LibDem council's latest capital spending plans for sports facilities, schools and regeneration projects in Renfrewshire.
The plans, published last week and ratified at a meeting of Renfrewshire Council on June 25th, will see Renfrewshire's sports facilities rationalised, with large sports hubs built and small community swimming pools in Johnstone and Elderslie set to close. SSP Renfrewshire branch is against these cuts to community facilities and plan to fight alongside local residents to keep the pools open.
The branch kicked off the campaign with two stalls in Elderslie and Johnstone, where angry locals, including worried parents who will not be able to travel to the centralised sports hubs, flocked to sign petitions and offer their support.
With this latest cut to public services, SNP have shown themselves to be, not just out of touch with the people that elected them, but contemtuous of public opinion. This disgraceful attitude, was exemplified at a recent meeting of Johnstone Community Council, where residents were gently questioning local SNP Councillor, Bruce McFee, about the swimming pool closures. The Councillor played his cards all wrong when he barked: “Huh, its the first time I've seen a multi-million pound investment being treated as bad news.” Locals were denied a Brucie Bonus when the Councillor then implied that the people were some how not supposed to be concerned if their swimming pool closes, expressing incredulity at the questions and declaring that “people are always resistant to change.”
This attitude permeates SNP policy, both at the national and local level. Nationally SNP Have broken or reatreated from almost half their manifesto commitments, including plans to scrap the Council tax. At the local level, in Renfrewshire, SNP aided by the Liberal Democrats, have closed The South School when they were supposed to be cutting class sizes, wrecked provision for rough sleepers when they are supposedly committed to eliminating homelessnes and decimated the warden service for people in sheltered accomodation, whilst at the same time making them pay extortionate costs for the privelage of having their safety and security ruined.
SSP Renfrewshire plans to hold a public meeting next week to discuss how best to save the swimming pools and will publish times and dates in the loacl press as well as this site.
SSP Renfrewshire plans to hold a public meeting next week to discuss how best to save the swimming pools and will publish times and dates in the loacl press as well as this site.
For more information on this campsign or on SSP Renfrewshire, contact Jimmy Kerr, jk033446@yahoo.co.uk, 07856799449
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I usually take my 19 month old daughter to Johnstone pool which she absolutely loves because of the separate wee pool, which is usually a bit quieter and so perfect for her to get used to the water.
ReplyDeleteToday I took her to The Lagoon for the first, and hopefully last, time. It was a nightmare. Far too crowded and noisy, and certainly not for kids my daughters age. So what exactly are we expected to do if these closures take place? And what about people who don't have the means to travel into Paisley?
I have heard that Johnstone High School is getting a state of the art pool built which the public can use outwith school hours, but what use is that to anyone?
In this day and age when we're trying to prise people away from their TV sets and computer games, and back into healthier passtimes, why on earth are the council removing such valuable resources from our doorsteps?
Extremely angry mum in Elderslie