Edinburgh's citizens respond to LWW sale

Drained

Splashback Statement on Council Decision, 30 May 2013

We are angry and dismayed that the City of Edinburgh Council has decided to pull the plug on Leith Waterworld and abandon their commitment to work with us. We have spent 15 months campaigning to save the pool and 4 months working intensively with council officers and councillors on a business plan for a revived pool.

The January amendment stated that the council would work with us on a feasibility stage until December 2013 and committed £125,000 to support this and intended a further £225,000 over 2 years if the plan was successful. This decision was against officers’ recommendations and seemed indicative of a genuine desire on the part of the Council to make a real commitment to cooperative working. This could have been a flagship project for community engagement.  In chambers on 31^st January Richard Lewis said, “While there remains a tremendous amount of work to be done in the months ahead, we want to give the community the best possible chance of success by providing the necessary funding and support toward taking their proposals to the next phase.We owe it to the people of Edinburgh to do everything to preserve this valuable community asset”.  The trust we placed in the Council that day has been broken.

Significant progress had been made through the working group; an application for charitable status had been made, tenders for engineering, design and consultancy services had been issued and positive engagement made with funders who were as excited as we were about the potential of this project.  Despite this progress our work has been prematurely cut short, taking away the opportunity for the council to consider an alternative vision for Leith Waterworld.  As a result, the council cannot make a comparison between what they have been offered and our proposal.

We do not believe the bid accepted by the Council is the best deal for Leith, for families, children, the disabled or the local community.  Soft play delivers negligible health and wellbeing benefits.

Our campaign was not just about the building it was about the social benefits the amenity delivered. As such we have pressed the council to ensure that the £125,000 promised to the feasibility phase be ringfenced and utilised to address the deficiencies that exist in accessible and affordable swimming.  We believe this funding should be used to secure free swimming for under 11s across the city as a minimum.

We are heartbroken that despite our best efforts we have not been able to save the pool. We recognise that this will be felt by many across the city. We would like to thank everyone for your overwhelming support for the campaign. Sadly on this occasion it has fallen on deaf ears but we would urge you to continue to hold your elected members to account. Thank you also to our partners and spouses and especially our children who have put up with all our hours of absence when we could have been swimming with them. 

Johnny, Fiona, Jacqueline, Ida, Richard, Simon and Chris on behalf of Splashback

Blooms in Leith, 29 May 2013

An open letter to Councillors...

Dear Councillors,

As you know, for the past four months Splashback campaigners have been working in co-operation with a group of City of Edinburgh Council councillors and officials. Together we have been progressing our bid to reopen Leith Waterworld (LWW) as a community hub for health and wellbeing. This has been a shared endeavour and we have all made good progress.

We were therefore surprised and naturally dismayed to learn last week that the City of Edinburgh Council is considering an alternative bid for the site. While it would be unhelpful to draw comparisons between our own ongoing efforts to secure LWW’s future as a revitalised leisure pool run by a community-led social enterprise, and the proposal to redevelop the site as a commercial play venue, we wish to remind readers and the City’s decision-makers just what is at stake at the Full Council meeting this Thursday.

The Splashback campaign was born, in November 2011, to prevent the loss of a unique water facility for children, families and people with disabilities. We were concerned about three things 1. the potential future of the site in the heart of Leith 2. the impact that closure would have on the community and families in an area of known deprivation, and 3. the impact on children’s participation in swimming throughout the city at a time when not only is childhood obesity is on the rise, but also one in three kids leave primary school not being able to swim.

We were delighted when, on 31 January this year, the city’s Councillors overwhelmingly voted to work with Splashback until the end of the year and to develop a feasible business plan for a community-run Leith Waterworld.

We could do something special here” and “Don’t we owe it to the community to give this our best chance?” were just two phrases used by the Councillors that day. Finally we thought they got it.After over a year battling with us, they seemed to recognise the benefits the pool offers to our young people, to the disabled and to our communities. The Councillors seemed to recognise and signal that, rather than fighting, it would be better for all of us to work together on trying to secure a positive future for the site.

The decision that day appeared to reflect the administration's desire to work cooperatively with the citizens of Edinburgh, as set out in the new “Coalition Agreement, “A New Contract WITH the Capital” signed by the Labour and SNP councillors in May 2012 in order to secure the deal that led to an administration being formed.

Over the last four months, we have worked with Councillors and officials in good faith, and while there remains much still to do, we have made significant progress. We have gone out to tender for external advisers, applied for charitable status, put together a fundraising plan, applied for money to help us employ a development manager and had positive initial discussions with other potential funders.

On Thursday, the city’s Councillors therefore have to decide the following: will they stand by the commitment made in January in the Chamber and on record to the people of Edinburgh that they would work with the community to secure a positive future for the site? Will they continue to work with us in order to secure the best deal for toddlers, children, families and the disabled – making sure that there is affordable and adequate swimming facilities for ALL of our community? Or will they allow a commercial bid to derail the first cooperative project the Council has embarked upon with Edinburgh's citizens?

We ask that the Councillors consider this carefully and weigh up what is in the best interest of their constituents, whom they are, after all, elected to serve.