APPENDIX 21
Memorandum submitted by the Immediate
Past President of the Amateur Swimming Association Midland District
I should like to bring to your attention these
facts.
1. Local authorities provide the majority
of public swimming pools where club members may train. Local authorities
must be given "ring-fenced" funding for their pools,
together with compulsory maintenance contracts and the payment
of local swimming development officers. Pools in their care are
a service to the community, not a source of income for council
services/salaries elsewhere within the Authority. Where clubs
are being continually priced out of their pools (as in Luton—three
rises in 2001-02), there is no chance for swimmers to receive
sufficient and appropriately coached training to reach their potential
and perhaps move on to "centres of excellence".
2. Swimmers are trained and transported
at cost to parents. Any proposed levies on clubs being mooted
at the moment will spell the dealth knell of our sport as a competitive
sport. Such rises will restrict adults and children who swim for
reasons of health and recreation (at a saving to Health Service
budgets).
3. The most important reason for keeping
pools open, for building new pools where competition is built
in to the specification and for encouraging maximum participation
in this the most healthy of sports is the contribution to character-building:-
perseverance, integrity, grit and self-reliance in competitive
club members in all four disciplines of our sport. We cater for
all ages—but our youngsters are the fabric on which the
well-being of this nation is built.
27 November 2001
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