A petition has been launched calling for a swimming pool to be included in plans for the £60m Braeview Academy and Craigie High School merger.
A full planning application was lodged last month for the new East End Community Campus and included proposals for a floodlit 3G football and rugby pitch, as well as a basketball and netball court and a grass track and field area.
However the application does NOT include plans for a swimming pool, despite both the current Braeview Academy and Craigie High School buildings having this facility.
Now a petition has been launched calling on the local community to support the provision of a pool at the new school.
New school should be “like for like”
The petition was started by community activist and former swimming instructor Stephen Massey.
He said: “I was a little bit disappointed to find out the most recent planning application didn’t include provision for a swimming pool.
“I want to highlight the fact that there won’t be a pool because I think a lot of people would be under the assumption there would be one included.”
“Both schools currently have that provision therefore if you are going to build a new building it should be a like for like plus additionality in my opinion.”
Are there already enough swimming pools?
In the planning application submitted to Dundee City Council, it was outlined that education officials believe there is “sufficient capacity” across schools in the city to support swimming provision.
All of Dundee’s secondary schools – with the exception of Morgan Academy – have on site swimming facilities.
However Mr Massey raised concerns that many families living in the catchment area of the new school will be unable able to afford the cost of regularly travelling to other areas of the city.
He said: “The school will be built to service in excess of 1,800 pupils so why would it not have a pool.
“And at the moment the school pools will service primary school children from their associated clusters so where are all of these children going to learn how to swim?
“There is a lot of deprivation (in the catchment area) and a lot of people can’t afford to travel to swimming facilities in other areas.
“They want to make it a community facility but they don’t want the community to come in.”
“Complete madness”
The petition also has the support of local church ministers and the Very Reverend Fay Lamont, Priest in Charge at St Ninian’s Church, described plans to omit a pool from the new campus as “complete madness”.
She said: “I have lived and worked in both Whitfield and Mid Craigie for over 40 years and have used both pools at Braeview and Craigie and seen the benefits to our communities.
“Given the SIMD status of our communities in the East End and the estimated cost of this community campus, to build without the facility for teaching such an essential life skill such as a swimming pool seems complete madness to me.”
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “A planning application has been submitted and will be considered by the planning committee in due course.”
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