Shrewsbury councillors backing Quarry pool campaign after site's future cast into doubt

The town council will write to their counterparts at Shropshire Council to express their concerns, after the future of the site was cast into doubt earlier this month by a statement from Shropshire Council that a redevelopment of the site proposed in 2020 was now considered “unaffordable".

At a meeting earlier this month Shropshire Council’s cabinet decided instead to focus on plans to develop a new £28m competition standard facility at Shrewsbury Sports Village, pressing ahead with a public consultation for the plan, but insisted that no decision had been taken on the future of the Quarry site.

The move will be scrutinised in February after a request to call-in the scheme was received by opposition councillors. The authority says earlier plans to redevelop both sites would cost in excess of £68m.

Shrewsbury Town Council’s motion, which was approved at a meeting of the town council on January 29, noted “the importance of keeping a swimming facility within Shrewsbury Town Centre that can be accessed by residents from all parts of town, especially those who do not have access to a car.”

Bowbrook Councillor Alex Wagner, who proposed the motion, said the idea of a single out of town swimming pool would be an “anomaly.”

“The Quarry Pool is a leisure attraction that benefits the economy of Shrewsbury by drawing in families looking for a day out with children and those attending swimming lessons every week, and attracting people from town and beyond looking for a day out combining some healthy exercise in the pool with time visiting the shops or going out for something to eat,” he said.

“It’s a real community facility and it’s not just used by groups that have been going year on year, it’s not just somewhere people book out, it’s a real community there.

“The town centre is the only accessible location for people in Shrewsbury and it’s within walking distance of a thousand car parking spaces.”

However, some town councillors also expressed their support for the unitary authority’s decision to press ahead with plans for a £28m competition pool facility at the Sports Village, with Sundorne Councillor Kevin Pardy hopeful the direction taken by Shropshire Council would settle a longstanding issue.

“They’ve made a decision, which is more than they’ve done for the past ten years,” he said.

“We need to concentrate on the Sundorne pool now. Let’s get it done.”

Shropshire Council says the existing pool is costly to maintain due to the age of the facility, and the authority was forced to spend £422,800 on repairs to the roof and ventilation systems during a lengthy closure last year.

The future of the ageing town centre swimming pool, which has existed on the site since 1864 but was redeveloped in 1969, has been debated for the past ten years, with development proposals first mooted by Shropshire Council in 2014.