New pool about to make a splash! (Garston and Halewood Liberal Democrats)

Garston and Halewood Liberal Democrats <info@garstonld.org.uk>

New pool about to make a splash!

March 2, 2008 12:00 AM

The country's newest Olympic size swimming pool is to be known as Liverpool Aquatics Centre.

The finishing touches are being made to the 50 metre facility in Wavertree ready for opening later this month.

It has now been filled with more than a million litres of water, in a mammoth operation which took five days.

The state-of-the-art pool will be one of only a handful of Olympic size facilities in the UK. It is three pools in one, with the main pool designed to be divided in two plus another 20 metre pool. It has a unique moveable floor to allow the the depth of the water to be varied.

It's the biggest investment in the city's swimming facility for decades, and will benefit the local community and also be used as a training centre by the city's elite swimmers - putting an end to the 70 mile round trips they have to make to Manchester and Wigan.

Council leader Warren Bradley said: "The local community are counting down the days until the opening of this brilliant new facility.

"It is not just for our own elite swimmers, but also the local community including recreational groups, mothers and toddlers and schools.

"We already have first class athletics, football, gymnastics and tennis facilities in Liverpool, and the pool will allow us to bid to host national swimming championships so that people can cheer on our athletes in their home city.

"It is another boost for Liverpool in our year as European Capital of Culture."

Spectators will be able to watch the swimmers in a 400 seat arena, and it is expected the site will also host major championships.

The £17 million project includes additional investment to improve the Lifestyles leisure centre next door, which will see a major expansion of the gym with more than 100 pieces of equipment.

The entire sports complex, which also includes the Indoor Tennis Centre, Athletics Centre and extensive synthetic and grass sports pitches will be re-named Wavertree Sports Park.

And the city council has agreed a suggestion from children at nearby St Hugh's Catholic Primary School that the centre should recognise the contribution that black swimmer James Clarke made to sport in Liverpool.

A plaque is to be erected at the complex to celebrate his pioneering work in introducing swimming lessons for youngsters in Wavertree in the early 1900's during which he saved the lives of many people who had got into difficulty in the River Mersey and Leeds-Liverpool canal.

The majority of funding - £13 million - is coming from the city council, with a further £4m of Lottery cash from Sport England.

The Aquatics Centre will replace the original 80 year old Picton Baths which had to close because of structural problems.

Stewart Kellett, Regional Director of Sport England North West, said: "We are extremely pleased to be able to invest such a substantial amount into the development of a 50m pool for Liverpool.

"As an organisation, we are committed to increasing participation in physical activity and sport across the North West and the likes of Wavertree Sports Park and the Liverpool Aquatics Centre will play a huge part in helping us to achieve this.

"Not only will it be a world-class training and competition facility, but a place for us to nurture our young talent and somewhere for the local community to enjoy."