Councillor Steve Kay, Cabinet Member for Health, Housing and Welfare at Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, said: “As a Council, we fully support the provision of a swimming facility in the Eston area. There has been a pool at the Normanby Road site for around 60 years and we want to see swimming provision continue in the area. Unfortunately, the swimming pool is located in a high risk flood area and has suffered from serious flood damage three times in the last 12 years, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds to repair, without addressing the flood issue at the building.
“A specialist consultant has concluded that the basement that contains the plant room will continue to flood in severe weather, even with additional flood defence measures put in. Therefore, the recommended solution would be to move the plant to above ground level to where the former children's learner pool is located. In addition, the building is nearing the end of its useful life and has suffered damage to its sub structure due to repeated flooding. It is estimated that to bring the pool back into a useable state by undertaking essential maintenance and moving the plant room would cost around £1.7M, this would extend the remaining lifespan of the pool to a maximum of 15 years.
“Owing to the extensive costs, the flooding issues and the short predicted life of the Eston Pool building, we propose a breathing space to take a strategic look at swimming provision across the whole borough. At the same time, we shall endeavour to identify external funding for swimming facilities, thus mitigating the need for prudential borrowing; borrowing which, in these difficult times, would be a further unwelcome burden on the taxpayers of our borough.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we shall be exploring the option of a new pool for Eston but not on a site prone to flooding."