The King Alfred swimming pool in Hove, which is home to LGBTQ+ swimming club Out to Swim Brighton & Hove every Saturday from 5 – 6pm, has received £205,000 of funding from Sport England.
The money, from Phase 2 of the Swimming Pool Support Fund, will go towards replacing two of the 40-year-old boilers with new, more sustainable, energy efficient models.
According to Brighton & Hove City Council, the support will “help to keep the King Alfred pool open and operational while a decision is made on replacing the centre with a new state of the art leisure facility”.
Councillor Alan Robins, chair of the Culture, Heritage, Sports, Tourism and Economic Development Committee, said: “We welcome this funding from the Swimming Pool Support Fund, which will help us to replace the 40-year-old boilers and complement the work which began last week to upgrade the pool hall heating and ventilation system.
“We will continue to do everything we can to keep the centre open for as long as possible, so residents continue to enjoy swimming, while we progress our exciting plans to build a new leisure centre.”
The King Alfred is one of more than 300 facilities with swimming pools across the country which have been awarded funding from the UK Government and Sport England’s £60million capital investment programme, to improve the energy efficiency of public facilities with pools in the medium to long term.
The funding includes £20million from Sport England via the National Lottery and just over £40million provided by the UK Government.
Lisa Dodd-Mayne, Sport England Executive Director – Place, said: “Swimming pools and leisure centres are vital community resources and are enormously important in helping people to be physically active.
“Many pools have faced a real and significant threat to their survival this year, as local authorities and operators have battled the challenge of increased energy and wider costs, weakened reserves and difficulties with retaining staff.”
“We hope today’s funding announcement will enable more public pools to improve their energy efficiency and be more environmentally and financially sustainable.”
Out To Swim Brighton & Hove, an LGBTQ+ and allies Masters Swimming Club, has sessions in Prince Regent Swimming Complex and King Alfred Leisure centres three times a week:
Saturday: 5 – 6 pm – Whole pool (King Alfred)
Monday: 8.30 – 9.30 pm – two lanes (Prince Regent)
Thursday: 7.30 – 8.30 pm – three lanes (Prince Regent)
More info HERE
You must be logged in to post a comment.