Local campaigners and families turned out in force to protest after Cumbria County Council announces plans for Millom School pool to be demolished.
Over 100 members of the public took to the site of the local secondary school on the 15th of September. Campaigner, Jenny Brumby, said, “We are fighting a losing battle with County Council, so do we just sit down or get up and fight?” The group is led by a local group that also fought to save the local hospital.
The site had been closed for a year after the county council declared the building to be a health and safety hazard and unfit for use. In recent weeks, there have been proposals submitted for the demolition of the swimming pool, which have been opposed by angry members of local campaign group.
Millom suffered a loss of one child per year, due to drowning, which promoted the school children of Millom School and families, so the town wouldn’t suffer any more deaths. The pool was used by local school children for swimming lessons before it closed a year ago.
In a recent statement, MP Trudy Harrison said that the pool was a “crucial local resource for decades. However, the pool has been past its best for a long time.”
The closure has meant that school children cannot go ahead with their compulsory swimming lessons and will have to travel a 90-minute trip, to Barrow-in-Furness or Whitehaven, to fulfil the swimming time that they need. The National Curriculum states that all schools should provide swimming instruction in either Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2.
The group have engaged in flyer dropping and in July 300 to 400 people gathered in the Beggars Theatre to discuss the plan of action for the pool. Jenny brumby says, “Cumbria County Council ignored us, so we took the conversation to the media.” She continues the statement by saying that Cumbria County Council are “very disappointing and very disrespectful.”