"The poor state of London's council-run sports facilities is exposed by the Evening Standard today.

Figures show a postcode lottery in sports amenities, with six out of 33 local authorities lacking an athletics track."

(Via London sports facilities are costly and thin on the ground | 2012 London Olympics: .)

| newspapers | 3 September 2008; 4:01:30 PM |# | | Discuss |

"Council swimming pools are shutting at the rate of seven a month, with the mendacious excuse of underuse generally cited as the reason for closure. Everywhere, the arrival of summer is marked by the sight of stomachs spilling over waistbands. It cannot be a coincidence."

(Via Why are we all swimming in red tape? - Telegraph: .)

| newspapers | 19 May 2008; 9:51:39 AM |# | | Discuss |

"'The Government is doing its best to promote healthy living - that's what the smoking ban is about. They know they need to crack down on obesity, but if you are closing swimming pools, how does that help you to promote good health? What's more, if you close pools, you will ultimately diminish our performance in the sport.'

Foster worries that swimming is no longer an option in this country for millions of potentially talented children whose local pool may have been closed. 'If a teenaged Mark Foster was coming along today it would be a lot more difficult than it was when I was young,' he said.

'I think the sport in general is becoming a lot more middle-class. Your parents have to have a car to drive you to the nearest pool or you are stuffed, and that can't be right.'"

(Via Mark Foster's Beijing Olympics dream - Telegraph: .)

| newspapers | 1 April 2008; 10:32:01 AM |# | | Discuss |

"The Government face further embarrassment today over the figures they claim for swimming pool and diving provision in the country.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that almost 40 per cent of Sport England's database of 171 diving facilities listed on the Active Places website are inaccessible to the public, with almost one third of them belonging to public schools.

Of the 171 on the list, 51 diving facilities belong to independent fee-paying schools, six have 'closed' written beside them, five others are known to the Great Britain Diving Federation to have closed, while six are on military bases."

(Via Government include closed pools in their data - Telegraph: .)

| newspapers | 9 March 2008; 9:06:09 PM |# | | Discuss |

"Campaign groups across the country are taking local governments to task over their 'willful disregard' of many of the nation's swimming pools. But one group is relying on more than petitions and protests to keep their pool open: it has taken their city council to court.

In December last year, supporters of the swimming pool at Gayton Primary School, Derbyshire, took Derby City Council to Birmingham High Court over the pool's closure and are now waiting anxiously for the judge to deliver his verdict on whether the pool must stay shut. As yet there has been no date set for the ruling.

Derby City Council is accused of failing to comply with a covenant in their lease agreement for the buildings that house the pool and its changing rooms, which stipulates that the council is responsible for maintenance."

(Via Derby City Council involved in court case - Olympics - Telegraph: .)

| newspapers | 5 March 2008; 4:13:34 PM |# | | Discuss |