Weekend opening hours for Aberdeenshire swimming pools comes under review

Live Life Aberdeenshire to explore increasing opening hours at north-east leisure centres after concerns were raised over cuts to weekend times.

The move has been welcomed by Alexander Burnett MSP after Live Life Aberdeenshire said it would explore increasing the opening hours at a range of centres. The Aberdeenshire West MSP wrote to the organisation calling for Alford Swimming Pool to be open for longer at the weekend following a cut to the hours.

Concerned users contacted Mr Burnett after a new timetable resulted in the community campus pool closing at 1.45pm on a Saturday and 12.45pm on a Sunday. In a response to the Scottish Conservative MSP, Live Life Aberdeenshire said the weekend programme for Alford, along with other pools across the region, is now being reviewed due to increased demand.

Mr Burnett launched a petition which gathered more than 420 signatures, urging the Scottish Government to release £6 million of funding received from the UK Government as part of a package to protect swimming pools and leisure centres from rising costs.. Reacting to the Live Life Aberdeenshire response, Alexander Burnett MSP said: “The cut in opening hours has been felt throughout Alford and is putting a strain on the mental and physical health of users who rely on the swimming pool, particularly at the weekend. Swimming pools play a vital role in communities across the North East but they remain under threat by savage SNP-Green cuts to local authority budgets which has resulted in timetable changes like these.Residents are rightly concerned by this but I welcome the review of weekend timetables which will hopefully result in swimming pools like Alford being open for longer.The huge health benefits swimming offers all age groups cannot be underestimated and I will continue to campaign for these facilities to remain open and accessible to all ages.”

In a response to Mr Burnett, Live Life Aberdeenshire said: “The rationale for the reduction in the timetable was part of a shire-wide reduction in the opening hours of our leisure facilities to reduce staffing costs and improve efficiency. The aim was to consolidate our programmes around a smaller number of opening hours, whilst protecting the sessions which provided the greatest income. This created a programme which retained the existing swimming lesson and swimming club programme within a reduced overall programme.The intention was that once the programme had been consolidated, we would investigate expansion of the programme where demand indicated this would be appropriate.The weekend programme for Alford, along with other pools, is being reviewed to establish the viability of increasing their opening hours.”

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