Council to investigate pool hygiene

24 November 2004 07:00

Yarmouth council has pledged to investigate hygiene problems at a leisure centre after a mother's catalogue of complaints.

Karen Stubbs, 31, vowed to stop taking her eight-year-old son Thomas swimming at Yarmouth's Marina Centre after spotting human excrement in the water on three family visits, the most recent on Sunday.

She described the pool as like "swimming in a sewer" and said other areas of the centre were also "absolutely disgusting".

Mrs Stubbs, of Burgh Road, Gorleston, highlighted cracked and filthy tiles around the pool, drains blocked by hair, and dirty showers and changing facilities with used sanitary towels and nappies left on the floor.

She said: "My son's best friend James was practising his lengths when the excrement floated past and he was really horrified.

"When we told the lifeguard, he did not shut the pool but just fished it out with a net."

Mrs Stubbs, a probation officer, said that on another occasion excrement was on the walkway near the pool, and a lifeguard waited 30 minutes before he cleared it up.

Claiming the reaction of staff was rude and unhelpful, she said: "We have no other accessible facilities in the area unless you are prepared to travel out of town and pay ridiculous joining fees.

"Our only leisure centre is being run into the ground and no one of any authority seems to care."

Borough environmental health officer John Hemsworth said the pool should be closed as soon as excrement was found, and stay closed while water was recycled through the plant.

He said: "They have an obligation to keep the pool clean and if that is not being done we will take action to ensure it is under the Health and Safety at Work Act."

Yarmouth Borough Council's deputy leader Bert Collins described Mrs Stubbs' experiences as "absolutely diabolical" and pledged to tackle the problems.

He said: "This should not be happening in a swimming pool. If she writes to me and gives me the details I will bring it up at Cabinet and we will do something about it."

The centre's managing company Leisure Connection has frequently come under fire over customer complaints and in January was set tough deadlines by the council to clean up its act.

It was given six weeks to repair all minor items such as tiles, sinks and toilets, and ordered to keep the centre clean and tidy at all times.

The firm was warned that serious contract breaches could lead to the agreement being ended.

Wayne Nixon, contract manager for Leisure Connection, said the cleanliness of the centre was of paramount importance to the company.

He said: "We ensure that standards are monitored via both internal and external quality assurance checks and these are carried out on a regular basis.

"However, as the building is 23 years old, ongoing issues with structural materials such as tiles are inevitable."

Mr Nixon said the Marina Centre was QUEST accredited - the leisure industry's quality assurance scheme - and recently gained its highest score to date.

Since taking over the contract to run the centre, Leisure Connection had invested more than £500,000.

A group of borough councillors has just started work on a report to Cabinet looking at what to do with the centre in the long-term once the council's mortgage on the building has been paid off in the next two years.

Labour leader Mick Castle said it was his group's view that it would need to be developed by the private sector because of the massive investment it would entail.

Email A Friend