THE APPEAL OF SWIMMING AND THE CHALLENGE
4. Swimming, and its wide variety of disciplines,
is the nation's most popular physical sporting activity, with
nearly 12 million people swimming regularly, and an estimated
80 million visits to public sector pools a year. Swimming is the
most popular sport for girls, and the second most popular for
boys, with 50 per cent of children regularly participating.[2]
5. The key challenge of maintaining the high levels
of participation, of both adults and children, in swimming is
the cost of providing the pools, which are among the most expensive
and complex indoor sports buildings both to build and maintain.[3]
Research undertaken by Sport England has shown that 60 per cent
of pools available for community use are now between 20 and 40
years old and will soon require modernisation or refurbishment.
Sport England estimated that out of the £10 billion needed
to modernise sports halls and swimming pools facilities, the cost
for swimming pools alone is approximately £2billion .[4]
The Local Government Association (LGA) estimated that to achieve
the modernisation of public pools a capital investment of £120m
per annum over the next 15 years is required.[5]
6. The funding for public sector pools comes from
various sources. The Local Government Association estimated that
net expenditure by local authorities on swimming facilities and
provision is around £375million per annum, out of a total
of £70 billion a year spent by local authorities in total
on services.[6] For the
year 2001-2002, out of a total budget of roughly £1 billion,
the Department of Culture, Media and Sport will provide £66.6
million to Sport in comparison to £360.7 million for Museums
and Galleries and £252.6 million to the Arts.[7]
In 2000-2001, Sport England provided lottery funding to swimming
and diving of £22 million.[8]
7. The second challenge is the pattern of provision
and the availability of facilities for the differing needs of
the community. The sport of swimming covers various disciplines
which impose different requirements on the facility. Learners
need shallow water. Water polo, diving and synchronised swimming
need deep water. Competitive swimmers need to train in 50 metre
pools. Those swimming for fitness favour lane swimming. Children
need room in which to splash around and have fun; wave machines,
slides and flumes are very popular. Sport England stated in their
memorandum that there is a limited need for additional water space,[9]
and yet we received evidence that pools are struggling to meet
the needs of their wide variety of users. In particular, there
is a manifest paucity of 50 metre competition class pools.
2 Ev 43, Ev 72, Q 40, Ev 47 Back
3
Ev 46 Back
4
Ev 47-48 Back
5
Ev 72 Back
6
Ev 71-72. The total income to local authorities for sports halls
and pools is £202 million, figures provided by the Local
Government Association for the year 2000-2001. Back
7
DCMS Annual Report, 2001, p 90. The breakdown for Sport, provided
by DCMS, includes £43.2m grant in aid for Sport England and
£17m grant in aid for UK Sport. Back
8
Breakdown, provided by DCMS, of the funding for swimming: In 2000/2001
Sport England provided £330,000 Exchequer funding to Swimming
& Diving, £22,011,430 from the Capital Lottery funding
to Swimming & Diving, £1,291,442 Total World Class programme
award to swimming, £79,681 Total World Class athlete award
for Swimming, £19,968 to Total World Class programme award
to disability swimming , £10,000 to Total World Class athlete
award for disability swimming. In 2000/2001 UK Sport provided
Exchequer Funding of £170,000, and Lottery Funding of £590,000
for the Swimming World Class Performance Programme 1/10/00-31/03/01;
£330,000 for the Disability World Class Performance Programme
1/10/00-31/03/01* and £102,000 for the Diving World Class
Performance Programme 1/10/00-31/03/01*. * Note: Before 1/10/00
there was no Lottery funding for diving or disability swimming
from UK Sport, funding for swimming came from Sport England as
part of the UK Performance funding totalling £4,753,989,
from 01/05/97 to 30/09/00. Back
9
Ev 47 Back
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