Under-threat ponds an ‘unsustainable drain’ on budget

CAMPAIGNERS fighting cost-cutting measures which could end swimming at Hampstead Heath ponds have been warned against against attempting to bully decision-makers.
Heath management committee chairwoman Catherine McGuinness said on Monday: “We will not be bullied by an orchestrated campaign by some user groups who have chosen to take out advertisements in the local press.”
High on the agenda at the committee meeting was the controversial report by the Corporation of London, which manages the 900-acre Heath, setting out proposals to curb an estimated £330,000 overspend on the Heath’s £5.5 million budget in 2005-06.
The plans include the closure of one or all of the Heath’s men’s, ladies and mixed ponds, charges for early-morning swims at the Parliament Hill Lido, the possibility of leaving some vacant posts unfilled and scrapping popular spring and summer events such as the Jazz Day.
Heath bosses are also considering reorganising the already stretched play and education section and shutting the popular information centre.
According to Ms McGuinness, the pools, while a “wonderful and cherished tradition”, were also “an unsustainable drain” on the Heath’s limited budget. At a cost of more than £500,000 a year, they were “its most expensive recreational facility by far”.
Permanent closure of the mixed pond would save an estimated £65,000 annually and leave just the lido open for mixed-sex groups.
Kenwood Ladies Pond Association chairwoman Jane Shallice told the meeting: “The Heath’s facilities cater for a very large number of swimmers in London. Closing the mixed pond will have serious knock-on effects on the other ponds.
“It is the closure of something you promised to maintain when you took it over.”
Sally Taylor, an American writer living in Mackeson Road, Gospel Oak, said: “If you close the ponds, swimming will go the same way as in the US, where only the rich can afford to swim.
“I have swum in the mixed pond virtually every day for 19 years. It is a unique experience. I would happily pay a charge for the pond rather than see it closed.”
United Swimmers Association chairman Robert Sutherland-Smith feared the proposals were the first part of a long-term plan to close all the ponds and get everyone swimming in the lido.
But Camden Council’s Labour environment supremo, Councillor John Thane, who sits on the management committee, said: “Many boroughs in London don’t have open-air swimming. If we were starting to look at this now, I doubt anyone would say we need a men’s, women’s and mixed pond.
He added: “If Camden Council had taken over the management of the Heath, a lot of the decisions we now have to face would have come to a head much sooner.”
The committee has agreed to look at alternative proposals for the ponds, including the possibility of keeping the mixed pond open all year at a charge, but closing the men’s and ladies’ ponds over winter. All the proposals will be considered by the Heath’s consultative committee next week before a final decision is made in January.