Take Action , Action for HOAP

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	Action for HOAP
	Save Hoddesdon Swimming Pool

Take Action

The benefits of sport, including swimming
The Minister for Public Health endorsed the Goverment's plan for Sport as complementary to the NHS Plan and National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease and stated that experts advise 30 minutes of moderate activity five times a week to reduce the risk of heart disease, strokes and some cancers.

Sport England, the government and the Amateur swimming Association all agree that swimming in particular helps to develop a healthier lifestyle through exercise. Promoting this goal could prevent an increase in the estimated 60% of the population who are overweight.

Please sign our mega petition
and ask all your friends, neighbours and relatives
resident in the borough to sign.
'We the undersigned request that Hoddesdon Open Air Pool
is redeveloped as a modern all year swimming facility
for full community use'

We hope for a petition of 5,000 plus signatures
from Borough residents that cannot be ignored.

Click here to view petition which you can print out so that you can collect names.

e-mail your local councillors and officers.
Ask questions to elicit a response.
Questions might include:
Why was there no public consulation?
Why did the council shut the Spinning Wheel
when they knew that the Lido was also closing?
What have they done to compensate for being
underpooled by 20% due to the Lido closing?
[HOAP is not included in this pool provision because
it is only open for 4 months of the year but with a cover
the season could be extended]
Could you give a firm guarantee that the site will not be
used for Housing?
Why are you not responding to public opinion.
Why did you not apply for funding to modernise the pool?
Why can you not spend some of the £60 million plus of council
reserves on modernisation?
In view of over-crowding due to the free swimming initiative
what are you doing to cope with the additional demand?

Useful names and addresses
Mike Walker, Chief Executive, ceo@broxbourne.gov.uk

Ken Ayling, Leader of the Council   ken.ayling@ntlworld.com

Jeremy Pearce, Deputy Leader and Chair of Planning
cllr.jpearce@broxbourne.gov.uk

Bob Bick, Chair of Community Services bobbick@btinternet.com

Ian Orton Director of Community Services io.community@broxbourne.gov.uk

Lynn White, Mayor lyn.white@ntlworld.com

Charles Walker, MP for Broxbourne WALKERC@parliament.uk
House of Commons, Westminster, W1A OAA
or visit his surgery at the Conservative Club, Hoddesdon
for times and venues see www.charleswalker,org

Please see Broxbourne Council's web site  www.broxbourne.gov.uk
for details of Councillors representing your ward and records of council meetings,
agendas, minutes and forthcoming Council and Community meetings.

Take part in our latest letter writing campaign Feb 2010 in support of our 7500 name petition
Write to councillors and officers. Each letter sent to a council officer must be logged and you should
expect a response with in 7 days.

The letter below gives some suggestions of points that could be made but please modify
and make it your own

Dear X,

I am writing to learn of your views with regard to swimming facilities within the borough
with special reference to the redevelopment of Hoddesdon Open Air Pool.

Please go to www.savehoddesdonpool.co.uk to find out about this well regarded facility.

There is very strong borough-wide support for the development of an all year

swimming facility on this site. This is substantiated by a 7,000 plus name petition.
80% of signatures are of borough residents while most of the remaining 20% are residents
from adjacent boroughs. At a recent Broxbourne and Hoddesdon Neighbourhood Forum
meeting, there was a proposal that ‘the provision of a new swimming pool be considered
in any discussion on the future of the Hoddesdon Open Air Pool site.’ T
here was almost unanimous support for this proposal, which was minuted.
I hope you too will support this proposal.

The current provision for public swimming is inadequate. There is no public swimming
available any where in the Borough of Broxbourne for about 25% of pool opening times.
This even includes all of Saturday mornings after 8.30am.

For about 55% of the time there is limited access to public swimming.

Unrestricted access to swimming at both pools is mainly pre 8.30 or 9.00am.

Do you think that this is an acceptable situation?

It has been said that the open-air pool cost too much to run and had insufficient
visitors. The Broxbourne Lido had over 200,000 users in a good year; so there is
obviously a considerable additional demand to be met.

Hoddesdon Open Air Pool failed to cater for toddlers some years ago and this,
together with a minimal maintenance regime, reduced clientele.

A new state of the art all year round facility would be in a position to offer
the additional public swimming during the day that is so urgently needed.

A new pool would attract revenue from schools, clubs, children's pool parties
and individual swimming lessons. Neither Grundy Park nor John Warner offer
therapeutic classes specifically from those recovering from operations,
nor do they cater for pregnancy and birthing support or for very young babies.

With regard to costs, the subsidy per swimmer claimed for the open-air pool was
misleading. Firstly it was based on unfair loading of central costs on to this
particular leisure facility.

Secondly, like was not compared with like, so the subsidies for John Warner and
Grundy Park were based on numbers passing through the turnstiles using a whole
range of facilities and not just swimming.

For full details of the costings, please go to www.savehoddesdonpool.co.uk

and scroll down to the bottom of the page on pool closure.

Thirdly a new pool would have modern efficient heating methods, which are

cheaper to run.

The additional clientele that a new pool would attract and the economies of a
new build this would make it a facility that the borough needs and of which it
could be proud. It may well have sub-regional significance by attracting people
into the borough thereby helping to regenerate Hoddesdon Town.

It is to be noted that Broxbourne's Health Profile with regard to adult physicalactivity
and childhood obesity is below both the national average and the regional average.
A new pool in this deprived area of Broxbourne (4 pools have closed here in recent years)
could assist in promoting public health.



I look forward to hearing your views on the viability of a new pool.

Sincerely,

Send your letter to:

Cllr Ken Ayling, Leader of the Council

[Hoddesdon town Ward re-election 2010]

ken.ayling@ntlworld.com

Councillors on the Community Services Committee:

Cllr Bob Bick Chair of Community services

[hoddesdon town Ward]

bobbick@btinternet.com

Cllr Mark Mills-Bishop

[Goffs Ward re-election 2010]

mark.millsbishop@btinternet.com

Cllr Delores Hart

[Rosedale ward]

delores.hart@tesco.net

Cllr Moiyra O'Neill

[re election if she stands, 2010]

cllr.m.o'neill@broxbourne.gov.uk

Martin Kennaugh

[Bury green]

mkennaugh@yahoo.co.uk

Judith Clemerson[Cheshunt central]

j.clemerson@ntlworld.com

Suzanne Ball-greenwood

[flamsted end]

38 High Wood Rd

Hoddesdon EN11 9AN

07909904422

Edward Rowland[Hoddesdon north]

tailorrowland@aol.com

Cllr Alan Smith

[hoddesdon north]

cllr.a.smith@broxbourne.gov.uk

Cllr Charles Tranham

[Theobalds]

16 Dysons dClose

Waltham Cross

EN8 8RL

01992 621935

For your own local councillors - details can be found at

www.broxbourne.gov.uk

Click on council and democracy on left of page

then view councillors by ward in centre of page.

Officers

Please send your letter to

Ian Orton, director of Community Services,

Mike Walker, Chief Executive of Broxbourne Council

Borough of Broxbourne Offices, Bishops College,

Churchgate, Cheshunt, Waltham Cross, EN8 9XA
Please see e-addresses under useful addresses just above letter.

Data

Swimming timetables for Grundy Park and John Warner give details of

swimming times

For costs go to www.savehoddesdonpool.co.uk - pool closure page.

For Public Health Profile www.healthprofiles.info and search for Broxbourne.



Stand as an independent candidate for Hoddesdon Town,
Hoddesdon North, Rye Park, Broxboune or other areas
in the May 2010 elections.
Please contact us for further information or see council web site and
Independents for East Herts - all you need to know about getting elected as a local councillor
by Jim Thornton
Alternatively if you could support those standing for election please let us know.

Thank you for your support