Lil Collins, Chair of Poplar Baths Steering Group, welcomes the involvement of The Environment Trust in plans to revive Poplar Baths.  Poplar Baths closed for public swimming in 1988, but local residents have campaigned ever since then for its reopening.

The Poplar Baths Steering Group expressed their confidence in the Council's 'outlined' specification for the Baths which gave the size of pool, arrangements for community access, pricing and safeguards about protecting the pool for the local community.  However no written and binding specifications have yet been published.  Lil Collins said, "What has happened to the specification for any development of the Baths that Tower Hamlets Council promised at our meeting in March 2004?", she went on to say, "Around here we've got so many schools within walking distance - we really need a local pool".  There is a meeting of Poplar Baths Steering Committee at 10.00am on 26th February at Salvation Army, Grundy St, Poplar.

| Poplar Baths | 10 February 2005; 11:44:54 AM |# | | Discuss |

"The Department has received a number of letters from members of the public and from hon. Members of Parliament, who have been contacted by their constituents, asking the Government to examine this issue.

The guidance has been introduced by the Institute of Sport and Recreation Management (ISRM) to improve safety at swimming pools. The degree to which it is applied is ultimately a decision for the owners and operators of individual swimming pools to make. However, it is clear that the guidance is being rigidly applied in many cases and that some pool operators are not recognising the flexibility contained within it.

The Department will host a meeting on Friday 11 February 2005 with the ISRM and other interested parties to explore how we can encourage the adoption of a common sense approach when applying the guidance."

(Via Richard Caborn's Recent Appearances (TheyWorkForYou.com).)

| Parliament, Hansard and Whitehall | 10 February 2005; 9:52:29 AM |# | | Discuss |