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| Campaigners press for baths
guarantee |
Walkout over claim that protest
has become political
Protesters make their point outside the baths on Saturday
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SAVE Kentish Town Swimming Baths! That was the simple but resounding
message delivered to Labour councillors on Monday night as angry
swimmers demanded a guarantee that the pool in Prince of Wales Road
remains open.
At a two–hour public meeting at St Patrick’s School in
Holmes Road, Kentish Town, about 60 pool users questioned Camden
Council’s provision for swimmers in the area.
Several swimmers suggested that a proposed £17-million programme
to refurbish the baths – propped up by a property deal –
was too expensive and that a cheaper way could be found to save
the pool.
Swimmer Roderick Allison said: “We don’t want a super,
super pool. We just want the pool we’ve got to be refurbished.
Nobody has asked us what we want. We don’t want gold-plated
taps – we just want our pool.”
Alan Walter, who lives on the Peckwater estate in Kentish Town,
added: “We want an unequivocal guarantee from the council that
they are committed to keeping the Prince of Wales baths. The campaign
will go on until we get that guarantee.”
He said that the pool brought together the community, adding: “Britain
is supposed to be one of the richest countries in the world –
we should then be able to afford a swimming pool for the community.”
Without investment, maintenance problems will force the closure
of the 100-year-old baths sooner or later. Last Wednesday, the pool
was forced to shut for the day following another boiler breakdown.
Nobody at the Town Hall has made a commitment to spend the money
needed to save the pool, and, so far, the council has not come up
with a cheaper refurbishment scheme.
In the meantime, a Save the Baths petition has amassed 2,500 signatures.
In the latest protest, campaigners linked arms and circled the building
on Sunday morning.
At Monday’s meeting, Brenda Humphrys, from the London Swimming
Pool Campaign, who once taught Spurs and England defender Ledley
King how to swim, told the meeting: “When I saw that the pool
was closing I said I’m not having that. This is not going to
be a short campaign but we are not going to go away.
“We have got the Olympics in 2012 but the kids that could be
champions at those Olympics will have nowhere to swim.”
Labour councillors Dave Horan, Deirdre Krymer and Dame Jane Roberts
– former council leader – tried to calm fears over the
pool’s future but did not provide the guarantee that swimmers
are still searching for.
Cllr Roberts told them: “You don’t need to have a campaign
because Camden is wholly committed to providing swimming facilities
in Kentish Town.”
She warned that the debate was turning into a political battle,
claiming that Liberal Democrat and Socialist Workers Party campaigners
were taking over – a suggestion that led some angry swimmers
to leave the meeting.
Cllr Krymer said: “I can’t pledge anything or give any
guarantees here tonight about the Prince of Wales baths.”
Meeting organiser Philip Thompson said: “The campaign is really
getting going now and it will keep going until the council says
it will not close Kentish Town baths. That’s what people who
have turned up tonight want.” |
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