Making waves to save their pool

10:15am Wednesday 8th June 2005

Since Lewisham Council announced plans to demolish Ladywell Leisure Centre to make way for a new school, the project has been hit by delays and fervent public opposition. As council chiefs prepare to make a final decision on its fate, GLENN EBREY looks at the story so far ...

THE saga of Ladywell Leisure Centre has dominated the borough's political agenda for the past 12 months.

Lewisham Council wants to knock down the centre and its swimming pool, in Lewisham High Street, to make way for a new £22m secondary school.

But since the plans were first mooted in June last year, council bosses have come up against a wave of public fury.

Angry pool users have set up a pressure group the Save Ladywell Pool campaign demanding the leisure facility be kept open.

And educational campaigners have argued although a new school is needed, it should be built in the north of the borough.

The future of the centre will come under scrutiny at a Lewisham Council meeting tonight.

Until now the plan had been to demolish the centre in 2007, so work could begin on the new four-form school.

However, council papers released last week revealed plans to use a site in Leahurst Road to house temporary classrooms while the development is taking place had fallen through.

Lewisham Mayor Steve Bullock is now looking at four possible strategies for the new school, which will be discussed at the meeting.

One of these could see plans for a temporary school scrapped and the centre closing early.

Loss of a vital facility?

The Save Ladywell Pool campaign has campaigned relentlessly to protect the leisure centre.

Members will be conducting the latest in a series of protests outside tonight's meeting at Catford Town Hall.

Campaign secretary Max Calo said: "We have been let down by a string of incompetent decisions and a policy of saving on leisure provision.

"The way this has all been dealt with is appalling. It is just a money-saving exercise.

"The pool is a vital facility and a flagship centre for the borough. It should not be closing."

Mr Calo also says the mayor has gone back on previous assurances a pool would be retained in the town centre.

He added: "The mayor gave a clear commitment to keep a top-class swimming centre in the heart of the borough.

"By knocking down the centre he is committing an act of vandalism."

School in the wrong area?

A new school has been earmarked for the borough since Telegraph Hill School in Brockley closed three years ago.

In 2001, the New School Campaign was set up, along with its political wing LEAP (Local Education Action by Parents).

The campaigners agree a new school is needed but say it should be in the north of the borough to fill the void left by the closure of Telegraph Hill.

Last year the council invited people to have their say on a site for the school.

LEAP suggested six possible sites, including a floating school on a boat, but these proposals were rejected.

Secretary of the New School Campaign John Hamilton said: "The Ladywell site is far too small and is in the wrong area.

"Our ideas would have met the real shortage in places and they did not involve knocking a building down."

What the Council says:

Lewisham Council has secured £150m from the Government's Building Schools for the Future programme, to help fund the new school in Ladywell.

The council says Ladywell is the best site because of its "accessible transport routes, location and current ownership."

Mayor Steve Bullock said: "I want to secure a quality education for every pupil and greater choice for parents in Lewisham."