Swimmers Angry About Ely Pool Closure

LOCAL swimmers have expressed their anger after a series of breakdowns at a pool in Ely forced it to close its doors for almost a month. The Paradise Pool in Ely was forced to close its doors on December 21 when one of its boilers broke down, with dozens

LOCAL swimmers have expressed their anger after a series of breakdowns at a pool in Ely forced it to close its doors for almost a month.

The Paradise Pool in Ely was forced to close its doors on December 21 when one of its boilers broke down, with dozens of scheduled lessons and club meetings cancelled as a result.

Shortly after overcoming difficulties with the boiler, however, a second fault with chlorine levels saw the pool close again last week, with swimmers left to wait for a fourth week while repairs were made.

The faults were finally rectified on Monday and the pool was immediately fully reopened to the public.

David Clarke from Wilburton told the Ely Standard: "This is the only pool we have in the area for 20 miles and it has been run so badly in these last weeks that I wont be going back again.

"My six-year-old so has been having swimming lessons at the pool but he has had lessons cancelled on several occasions and it is very frustrating."

Chris Howard, chairman of the City of Ely Swimming Club, told the Ely Standard: "The club has really suffered as a result of everything that has been going on - we've cancelled training sessions and had to turn down gala invitations as the children wouldn't be able to compete at the level they have been due to lack of training.

"We had to cancel our fun Christmas gala twice, once for boiler and once for lack of chlorine in the pool, we've incurred costs for coaching that hasn't gone ahead and of course members are upset and unhappy - they have paid fees for membership that hasn't been delivered."

A spokesperson for Leisure Connection, the group which manages the pool, confirmed that a series of technical faults had kept the pool closed over the Christmas period.

The spokesman also insisted that strenuous efforts were made to rectify problems with the boiler but a problem acquiring the necessary parts over the Christmas period caused the lengthy delay.