Campaigners step up fight to save beloved swimming pool

'If Northbrook closes, there will be almost nothing in the Beacon Heath area'

Angry swimmers fighting to save an Exeter pool say closing it will create a ‘desert’ in a deprived area.

Now they are getting together a petition calling on the city council to step in and save it.

The council says the Northbrook Swimming Pool isn’t used enough to warrant saving, but swimmers say more people would use it if it opens for longer.

At a recent meeting of the city council, leader Phil Bialyk (Lab, Exwick) said that with the council grappling with a £3.5 million shortfall, tough decisions had to be made.

Among them, he said, the council would look at the future of the pool. He claimed that despite improvements to the pool there had been low usage and little improvement in revenue.

He told the meeting: “It is very disappointing that it has come to this. We would like to keep funding the facility, but we do have two exceptional swimming pools in very close proximity.”

He promised full consultation with local people before any decision was made.

But swimmers have stepped up their fight to save the pool.

Sarah Hornsby said the council had never fully re-opened it since the pandemic, and a trial to extend opening times had been poorly advertised and short-lived.

“There would be more users if the centre were open for more hours,” she said. “It is well used by schools and Aquafit classes are always popular.

“The feeling amongst regulars is that it has been intentionally poorly run and access has been limited so as to justify the pool’s closure.”

She said low-cost improvements could make the pool easier to access, and warned that its closure would harm the area.

“There are a whole lot of new houses being built in Beacon Heath, within half a mile of Northbrook,” she said. “Surely this will bring increased demand?

“If Northbrook closes, there will be almost nothing in the Beacon Heath area. It is a relatively deprived area, with a small parade of shops, one pub and the Beacon Centre, which is struggling for finance.

“It will be a desert. Have we learned nothing from the housing mistakes of the 50s and 60s?”

Campaigners also say they fear the decision to close the pool has already been made.