Improvements on the way for Tadley Health and Fitness Centre following Liberal Democrat campaign
Major improvements are on the way for a popular local swimming pool after a flurry of complaints led two local councillors to campaign for change.
The changing rooms at the Tadley Health and Fitness Centre will receive a deep clean in the coming weeks and new cleaning equipment has been purchased to facilitate the process.
Future upgrades to the toilets are planned in the spring and there are plans for further improvements in the pipeline.
Liberal Democrat councillors Jo Slimin (Tadley and Pamber) and Kerry Morrow (Tadley North, Kingsclere and Baughurst) received multiple complaints from North Hampshire residents about the state of the facility and decided to act.
The nature of the complaints being received include far too frequent pool closures, constant breakdowns in the health suite and plant room, a decline in overall cleanliness, hot tub and showers being out of use for a long time with no sign of repair and issues with booking swimming lessons.
Mrs Slimin oversaw the building of the Tadley Pool went it opened in 1998 when she was leading the Liberal Democrat group then running Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
She said: “A lot of hard work was put in to deliver the pool which was the most wanted leisure facility for residents then and still is today.
“So it was with a heavy heart that I learnt that the standards at Tadley Health and Fitness Centre had been allowed to slip by the operator Serco and I knew I needed to take urgent action to get improvements delivered quickly.
“Users of the facility deserve better and are rightly raising alarm bells with the current operation.”
Mr Morrow visited Tadley Health and Fitness Centre with his wife in December and was shocked at the state of disrepair within the facility.
What began as a conversation in the sauna room with concerned centre members soon snowballed into a large number of complaints from the public being shared with the two councillors.
Mr Morrow said: “My role as a councillor is to pass on local issues where I find them and, in this case, we set about informing Serco and the borough about the many complaints.”
The Lib Dems brought what they had discovered to the borough council, which in turn provided a comprehensive list of concerns to Serco with a demand on them to produce a timed action plan for improving the facilities.
The councillors said: “We are extremely disappointed that Tadley Health and Fitness Centre has been so neglected and that the operator has allowed the service to our residents to drop so low.
“However, we are delighted with the response from Basingstoke and Deane Borough officers and are pleased to see the initial improvements already happening.
“Moving forward, we would like to see an improved complaints procedure being introduced by Serco as only with feedback can a business learn and improve.
“We also want to see better communication with the public. We will continue to monitor the improvements and demand a better service at Tadley Health and Fitness Centre.”
