Row over time slots for 50m swimming pool at new £35m South Lake Leisure Centre in Craigavon

A row has broken out over the allocation of time slots for swimming lanes at the new South Lake Leisure Centre in Craigavon.
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Portadown Amateur Swimming Club (PASC) is furious that some of its early morning sessions at the pool have been reduced.

The group claims their Monday, Wednesday and Friday early morning sessions were taken off them by Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Council (which runs the leisure centre) to accommodate another swimming group.

A spokesperson for PASC said: “We were given very little warning and no chance to appeal or delay this decision and SLLC Management were given instruction from Senior Council Officers to remove PASC morning sessions immediately to facilitate this other group.”

The club, with other clubs in the borough, warned prior to the building of the £35m South Lake Leisure Centre, that there would be insufficient space to cater for all the clubs after the closure of Cascades Leisure Centre in Portadown, Waves Leisure Centre in Lurgan and Brownlow Leisure Centre in Craigavon.

A PASC spokesperson said: “As far back as August 2020 we were advised by ABC Council that they would not be able to give us all the evening pool slots that were agreed and approved for us in January 2020 after many months of negotiations with external consultants (Strategic Leisure and V4) employed at great expense by ABC Council and the other stakeholders in the Aquatic Strategy (Armagh ASC, Banbridge ASC, Lurgan ASC, Lurgan Masters and Open Water Swimming Club, Ripples Special Olympics Club, Portadown ASC and ABC Council) to ensure public access at all times as well as balanced usage by other clubs who had been working under the auspices of the Aquatic Strategy.”

The club said it had told the council in 2016 about issues which may be forthcoming if the new leisure centre pool was built at a reduced capacity compared to the three pools it was replacing.

“At that time we were advised to start using morning sessions to help alleviate some of the bottlenecks in the busier evening slots and we made significant strides towards lots of morning swims during the week which were really improving the ability of our swimmers.”

The club said: “We have now had the morning sessions completely removed from us and therefore critically limiting the opportunities for our swimmers.”

The group has claimed it was told it would have the ability to apply for these morning lanes on a 100% permanent basis under an EOI (Expression of Interest) process once SLLC had got over Covid restrictions and once it had had a chance to be ‘stress tested’ in normal times, and that all stakeholders would have an equal opportunity to apply for them.

It also claimed the council has ‘reneged’ on this process further claiming that the new set up has ‘forced our children out of the pool on those mornings’.

“As a swimming club we would never seek to deny anyone the right to swim and it’s not a case of our club against another club or any group of swimmers who wish to swim.

“We have already had some of our evening sessions trimmed by ABC Council and they are looking to trim even more in the near future - we cannot be squeezed any more and the future of our club and the opportunities for your children are being severely limited and we need you to take action,” said the spokesperson who added that they are lobbying councillors on the matter.

The club also claimed the council is breaching its policies and procedures.

A spokesperson for Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council said: “The following swimming clubs have been allocated slots at South Lake Leisure Centre; Portadown Amateur Swimming Club, Ripples Special Olympics Club, Lurgan Amateur Swimming Club, Lurgan Masters and Open Water Swimming Club, Dot’s Swim Club, Banbridge Amateur Swimming Club, and Armagh Amateur Swimming Club.

“The number of hours allocated to each club varies depending on demand and in-line with public swimming availability. Council continuously reviews the pool programme to make the best use of the available time and lane space for all users.

“Portadown Amateur Swimming Club, and all other swimming clubs using South Lake Leisure Centre, have been allocated availability in line with Council processes; these arrangements are different this in-coming year due to changes in Covid-19 regulations.

“The Council is not aware that anyone has been disadvantaged, and has an Expression of Interest process in place to ensure fair and transparent allocations for all club and facility users. Council has responded to all enquiries in relation to this matter,”