City bosses have been told to take urgent steps to address “decimated” levels of swimming provision in Dundee.
Labour MSP Michael Marra claimed a collapse in availability is part of a long-term pattern of “wilful neglect” under the current SNP council administration.
He accused it of “actively disinvesting” in the activity.
How Dundee’s position has fallen
Analysis by The Courier revealed the City of Discovery has lost 73 hours of public lane swimming per week since the closure of the Olympia pool.
It means that Scotland’s fourth largest city now has fewer lane hours available than Orkney, an area with less than a sixth of Dundee’s 148,000 person population.
We reported previously on the impact of this on the training schedules of top athletes and dramatically increasing swimming lesson waiting lists.
Mr Marra has now called for Dundee City Council and Leisure and Culture Dundee to launch a full review of swimming in the city.
In a campaigning statement, he writes: “The local authority and its partners have overseen a period of neglect and mismanagement that has threatened the future of swimming in the city at every level and for every part of the population.
“Action is needed to reverse the trend and rebuild swimming in the city.
“The alternative is a situation where the current city administration manages and – as is currently the case – accelerates decline.”
A ‘rolling crisis’
The new Olympia Swimming Pool was closed in October 2021 after falling into disrepair just eight years after opening.
It is currently scheduled to re-open next year with a repair bill of more than £6 million.
Our own analysis showed that in the 12 months since it closed, Dundee has fallen from a mid-table position among Scotland’s 32 local authorities for swimming provision to the bottom 10.
The decision earlier this year to scrap plans for a swimming pool in the new East End Community Campus means Dundee will be faced with a further reduction of two pools.
It was announced in August that there were more than 800 people on waiting lists for swimming lessons in the city, 733 of them children.
Classes run by Leisure and Culture Dundee for early years swimming were scrapped in October, with all waiting lists closed.
‘Dundonians deserve better’
In response to what he described as a “rolling crisis”, Mr Marra said: “Learning to swim is a vital life skill and it is an activity that makes us all safer, healthier and happier.
“Dundonians deserve access to swimming as a basic service.
“Every new news item or piece of analysis underlines that the SNP administration on Dundee City Council has little real interest in promoting swimming or providing the kind of facilities that are commonplace elsewhere.
“The people of Dundee demand better and rightly so.”
Mr Marra said the anger surrounding the closure of the Olympia pool is “palpable”.
He added: “We desperately need Dundee City Council and Leisure and Culture Dundee to work together with the swimmers and clubs hit by these failures to create a new strategy to promote swimming and to provide the facilities that people need.
“The first step is easy. Keep the current swimming pools open, advertise their opening times and encourage their use via every channel the council has at its disposal.”
Council leader hits back
Dundee City Council leader John Alexander said Mr Marra’s comments “lack any self awareness” because Labour councillors voted in favour of the new school and ran the administration when the Olympia was designed.
“The SNP also didn’t propose cutting repairs and maintenance in the latest budget but, perhaps ironically, Labour did,” he said.
“I would also remind Mr Marra that this SNP administration has invested tens of millions of pounds in new and enhanced sporting facilities and his claims don’t match reality.”
Mr Alexander pointed to the Regional Performance Centre for Sport and upgrades to facilities such as the Lochee Swimming Baths as examples of his party’s commitment to supporting local sport.
